Stalked
by incoherenThought
Summary: What starts out as a phone call soon leads to a deadly game.
1. Worth a Game

**S T A L K E D**  
By: IncoherenThought

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on the CBS series Cold Case; to which I own no rights.  
**Note:** This story is not likely to follow Cold Case to an exact tee. Somethings may be different, while somethings may be ignored.  
**Update:** I have made some changes to this story up and through the currently posted chapter at this point (chapter 11). Nothing major, nothing that requires a reread and nothing you'd probably really notice. But, I wanted to make note of it anyhow. (04-05-10)

**Chapter One:** Worth a Game

* * *

"Valens," the homicide detective spoke into the phone. When there was no response from the other end, he became annoyed. Anonymous tip line, he thought to himself, if you don't want to talk to a cop then call the anonymous tip line. "This is Detective Scotty Valens," he tried again. "How can I help you?"

The caller suddenly laughed. It was a short laugh and from someone with a deep voice. It did nothing to stunt the detective's irritation and he thought about hanging up. "Who is this?" he demanded instead.

"Is Lilly there?" the question was unexpected. Referring to his partner as, Lilly, would indicate someone who knew her personally. Anyone else would have asked for Detective Rush or, at the very least, Detective Lilly Rush. Scotty looked over at his partner's empty chair. He had a feeling this caller didn't know her.

"Detective Rush hasn't come in yet," he said, choosing to keep things professional. "If I could take a message..." Another laugh interrupted where his words were going.

"Do you know where she is?" asked the voice and Scotty grew more irritated.

"As I was saying," he ignored the question asked of him, "I'd be glad to take a message for her and as soon as she comes in..."

"Do you know where your partner is, Detective?" the voice was ever calm and it was as though he had never heard Scotty's words or simply didn't care about them. Scotty sat up straighter in his chair and stared over at Lilly's empty desk. It was nearing ten o'clock in the morning and she should have been to work by then.

"Who the hell is this?" Scotty repeated his earlier demand.

"Because... I do."

A chill ran through the detective and for a moment he found himself unable to speak. His mind raced to comprehend what the words meant, while his heart already knew. Scotty seemed unable to form coherent thought and his eyes wouldn't leave Lilly's empty chair.

"Scotty," his name spoken broke the spell and made the world move again. Scotty looked up to find Nick Vera standing beside his desk. A look of question was plastered on the older detective's face. "Is everything okay?" asked Vera, nodding at the phone.

"Are you still there, Detective?" questioned the caller and Scotty grabbed for a pen and a pad of paper. Get to Lilly's!, he scribbled on the pad and shoved it at Vera with a look that would tell the other detective that he was dead serious.

"If you know where Lilly is, then why not tell me?" Inside, Scotty was panicking. Outside, he was playing the cool and calculated detective he knew he had to be. He watched Vera rush out of the squad room, stopping only to retrieve his gun from its locker.

"That wouldn't be much fun, would it, Detective?" the voice remained calm, as before, and that unnerved Scotty.

"So, this is fun for you?" he asked. "Are we playing a game?"

"Only if you think her life is worth a game."

"If you've hurt her..."

"When I _do_ hurt her, Detective," continued the caller in a much more sinister tone or, maybe, that was Scotty's imagination, "I'm going to bury her body so deep that in twenty years from now it will be a whole new set of detective's who find it and open up _her_ cold case."

The line went dead.

* * *

**End Note:** I know this chapter was very short but I've planned this story to be posted in a bunch of short chapters (although, maybe, not this short). So, while there may not be much to have thoughts on, if you could leave a review anyhow because, well, I like reviews!


	2. To Each His Own

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Two:** To Each His Own

* * *

Scotty called out his partner's name as he rushed into her house. The door had already been unlocked and inside he found Vera standing in her living room. His colleague looked calm, composed and, altogether, like there was nothing wrong.

"She's..." Vera started but was interrupted.

"Scotty?" Lilly Rush walked into the room. Her hair was slightly damp, as though she'd recently gotten out of the shower, she was fully dressed for work and her makeup, what little she wore of it, seemed to be in place. Scotty breathed a sigh of relief and went to stand before her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, placing a hand gently on her arm.

"I'm fine, Scotty," she affirmed and looked to Vera and then back to Scotty. "Just late for work but nothing's happened. Nick said you got a phone call and sent him over here."

"Yeah..." Scotty nodded his head and proceeded to explain the details of the conversation he'd had, on the phone, earlier in the squad room. When he had finished explaining he found that neither Lilly, nor Vera, looked particularly concerned.

"Did I stutter?" he asked, annoyed.

"Scotty, we get threats all the time," Lilly said. "It's part of the job."

"The guy said he was going to _bury_ you, Lil."

"Okay," began Vera, "some creep was trying to scare you."

"It worked," Scotty stated firmly, looking at Vera with aggravation in his eyes. "Did you make sure no one was in the house?"

"We did," Vera answered simply, and with a nod of his head, but offered nothing else.

"What would you have done, Nick?" Scotty blurted out. He was more than annoyed that neither one of them seemed to be taking him, or the situation, seriously.

"I'd of probably sent someone over to check on my partner," admitted Vera. "Now, that I _have _checked on her, I..."

Scotty's cellphone range. The detective pulled it from his pocket and glanced down at it. It glowed, unknown caller, back at him.

"Who is it?" asked Vera. Scotty gave the older detective a knowing look, but said nothing, as he pushed talk on the phone.

"Valens," it was his usual greeting.

"I see you've found your girlfriend," a voice spoke to him. It was the same voice from earlier that morning.

"Who is this?" asked Scotty.

"Why is it you keep asking me that?" the voice sounded sincerely curious. "Do you think I'm going to answer you? Maybe invite you over for some tea?"

"All right, then, how about a new topic?" Scotty suggested. "What is it you want?"

"Lilly," the response was so instantaneous and unexpected that, at first, it caught the detective completely off guard. He glanced over at Lilly. She was already watching him. Fear crept up inside him as he caught her blue eyes with his. He suddenly had the sinking feeling that she was still in danger and there was nothing he could do about it.

Scotty pulled his eyes away from Lilly's, blinked a few times, and swam up from the water he was drowning in. He had to stay cool. He had to play detective. "Okay, you got the hots for my partner," Scotty spoke, sounding a lot more at ease, even to himself, than he felt. "I can understand that. She is pretty cute. What I don't understand is why you keep calling to tell me about it. Did you want an introduction? Why don't you meet us at PPD? You know where it is, right? You called it earlier."

"You think yourself very clever, don't you, Detective?" the voice was even, calm and clearly pronounced. "I never said anything about having the hots for her. I said I wanted her dead."

"Well," Scotty began, giving a small chuckle, "some guys like that sort of thing. Now, _me_? _I_ never really understood the whole attraction to the dead, _necrophilia_, thing myself but, I suppose, if the living turn you down enough and it becomes your only option. To each his own, right?"

"Scotty," Lilly warned from beside him but he ignored her.

"I'll bet, on those really lonely nights, you even manage to convince youse..."

"You know," the caller interrupted his words, "maybe I will spend some intimate moments with her right before I kill her."

"If you actually manage to so much as touch her," Scotty spoke, "then I'm going to kill _you_. I get this feeling, though, that you're all about the talk. You're really nothing more than a little man behind a phone."

"I may be closer than you think," the voice said and then laughed.

Scotty startled at these words and glanced around the room. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"How do you think it is, great detective, that I knew she was late for work today? How do you suppose I knew she wasn't with _you_ when I called?"

Scotty's gaze landed on the two large windows at the front of the living room. He walked over to one and drew aside the curtain. He looked at the street outside. He studied the row houses across from the street. He watched every window and every door. He was looking for a shadow, a movement, or anything out of the ordinary.

"So, you're a voyeur as well," commented Scotty dryly.

"She's in danger," the caller suddenly stated, causing Scotty to set his jaw in anger. "Every day and every night and every moment of her life, from this point forward, because I am going to kill her."

"You think I can't protect her?" Scotty asked and he dropped the curtain back into place.

"I think you'll certainly try," there was a smile in the words now. "That's going to be the greatest fun of all. You'll run around and play the dutiful and protective boyfriend but, in the end, you will fail. From under your very nose your pretty little girlfriend is going to die."

Scotty finally snapped. "You are not getting near her, you son of a bitch! You'll have the entire Philadelphia police department looking out for her!"

"And how do you think that'll work out? Lilly Rush. Cool, calculated, independent. She doesn't need anyone. She'll never admit defeat and never ask for help. How do you think you, or anyone, will protect her?" The continued calmness in the caller's words was really starting to grate on the detective's nerves. He continued to speak as though they were discussing the weather and it was this very calmness that was, perhaps, more irritating than his words and what they meant.

"You know," the caller went on, "I had a drink beside the two of you last night. Your lieutenant... what's his name? John Stillman, was there too. I've stood in line with her, and other cops, as she got lunch from that hot dog stand that's always across the street from Philly PD. I've walked beside her on the street. Observed her at a crime scene. I've spoken with her, while you stood by and watched. How can she ever be safe from the world?" That world suddenly seemed a lot more chaotic to the detective.

Scotty envisioned a busy sidewalk with hundreds of workers going to and from work. He saw a random person, so ordinary and not unlike everyone else he came across every day, passing by and stopping to ask for the time of day. A simple gesture could turn so deadly. He'd seen it happen before. He saw cars backed up for miles on a busy street somewhere, it didn't matter where, all honking at each other as their occupants grew more and more impatient at the traffic they were facing. What was the worse of all, though, were the images of a room he was as familiar with as his own home. The homicide unit's squad room of central Philly. It was a place that was filled with the constant disorder of strangers coming and going. Victims and suspects and, even, other cops. So many people and so many situations and he'd never think twice on half them.

"Are you starting to get the picture, Detective?" asked the voice and Scotty swallowed down a lump in his throat. He was.

"Why are you threatening her?" he asked. He was feeling, suddenly, defeated.

"I'm not threatening _her_," the voice told him. "I'm threatening _you_."

"So, this is about me?"

"It always has been," the caller assured him.

"If this is about _me_, if this is about some kind of revenge or grudge you hold against _me_, then leave Lilly out of it and come after _me_! Shoot _me_! Kill _me_! Do what you will, or what you think you can, and leave her out of it!" It was then that a thought occurred to the detective. "Or do you think a woman makes for an easier target? Because, I can tell you, I've worked with this woman for a long time now and she's pretty tough and you'd probably have an easier time with me than her."

"What's your worst fear?" asked the voice suddenly. "What's your worst nightmare? Who is the one person, in this world, you can't live without?" Scotty looked at Lilly. Her blue eyes were looking right back at him. "That's why I'm going to kill _her_."

* * *

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	3. Basements

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Three:** Basements

* * *

The three detectives stepped out of the house and into the cool morning air. Lilly turned around to lock up her front door. Scotty and Vera stepped down to the curve.

"If we're okay here," Vera began, "I'm gonna head back to PPD."

"All right, Nicky," Lilly said with a smile, trying to sound reassuring, and stepped down to the other two. "We'll see you there."

Vera hesitated, looked to Scotty and then back to Lilly. "You gonna ride in with him?" he asked, indicating her partner. Scotty, for his part, was paying them little attention and seemed to be concentrating, instead, on something across the street.

"Yeah," Lilly nodded for extra confirmation, "I'll get a ride with Scotty." Vera, she knew, was concerned for her. She was a little concerned for herself as well. One phone call didn't really say much but, now that they'd received two and both were a direct threat to her life, things seemed a little more real and the threat a lot more unnerving.

"Okay..."

"Hey, Lil?" Scotty's words interrupted whatever else Vera might have said. Both the detectives looked over to find that Scotty was still studying something across the street from them. "Who lives there?" He nodded in the direction he meant and Lilly followed the nod. She knew, right away, what it was he had been studying and her brow creased in confusion. On the row house, that was exactly opposite her own, the front door hung open.

"An old lady used to," Lilly answered her partner's question, "but she moved out months ago. No one's moved in since."

Scotty looked over at her and she met his gaze. "Then why's the door open?"

"I have no idea," she answered quietly, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach.

"We should check it out," Vera suggested.

"I agree," Scotty said and darted across the road. The other two were right behind him.

It was a narrow street and it didn't take long for the trio to cross it. Once they were across, all three detectives pulled out their state issued revolvers. Scotty was in the lead and nodded to Vera before stepping inside the house. The older detective followed quickly behind him and Lilly stepped in last.

Inside the detectives found themselves in a small living room that was virtually identical, in layout, to Lilly's own. There was no furniture in this room and the place appeared to have been unused for some time now. A small layering of dust on the hardwood floors scattered into the air, disturbed, as Vera headed across the room and entered the kitchen. Lilly could soon hear cupboards being hastily opened as he searched through them. Scotty glanced into the first floor half-bathroom but came up with nothing. The house's layout seemed much like her own house and that would make searching it, not only easier, but safer for them all.

"Lil and I will head upstairs," Scotty said as Vera rejoined them in the front room. The older detective nodded his understanding and reached for a door, that Lilly knew, would lead him to the basement. She followed after her partner as he led the way upstairs.

At the top of the stairs they came to a small hallway with three doors leading off of it. Both detective's knew that two of those doors lead to separate bedrooms and the other lead to a bathroom. Scotty looked into the bathroom and confirmed it was empty. He then headed for the master bedroom. Lilly went for the secondary bedroom.

"Be careful," he cautioned as they separated.

Lilly walked into a small bedroom that, like the living room, was empty of all furnishings. She slowly opened the closet and found it was also empty. The house seemed abandoned. Just as it should have been. She headed back to the hallway and found her partner walking out of the master bedroom.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.

"Same here," Lilly said and they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They looked over and saw Vera taking a last step to the top.

"Hey," he spoke, "you guys had better come see this."

"What is it?" asked Scotty but Vera only shook his head and lead the way back down the stairs. Lilly and Scotty accepted the silence and followed behind their coworker.

* * *

Lilly hated basements. They were dark, damp and filled with shadows that never made any sense. This basement was no different. It was missing any drywall and had only exposed beams with bits of insulation between them. The floor was concrete and felt cold, even through her shoes. In one shadowy corner was an area filled with monstrous looking objects, that she knew were all needed to run a household, but that made her shudder nonetheless.

The detective noted that the singular light bulb, that dangled naked from the ceiling, did very little to illuminate anything around itself and she found herself glancing from shadow to shadow trying to determine what had formed each one of them. She had missed, completely, what it was that Vera had brought them down here to see. That is, until, she heard her partner's deep intake of breath and glanced over to see what he was looking at. She spotted it immediately.

Attached to large pieces of pegboard, that had been placed as walls on a couple of exposed beams, were dozens of photo and newspaper clippings. In everyone of them Lilly found that she was the central focus. Some of the photos showed her working at a crime scene. A few showed her walking down a sidewalk with Scotty. Some showed her at the tavern, that was their usual tavern, having drinks with everyone she worked with on a daily bases. The articles were mostly about murders she'd helped to solve. One was an interview she'd done or, more like, been forced to do as the first female detective in Philly's homicide unit. Unconsciously, Lilly took a step backwards.

"Pretty freaky stuff," said Vera, breaking the silence that had fallen over the basement. "I'm gonna go call this in with Boss." Vera then turned and headed back up the stairs and Lilly wished that she had thought of that first. Anything to get her out of this basement.

"Scotty..." she began, stepping over to stand closer to him.

"How the hell did I not see this?" he interrupted her and Lilly wasn't sure if he were talking to her or to himself.

"Scotty," she consoled, "you..."

"I should have seen _this_." He looked at her, his eyes betraying the disappointment he was feeling in himself. "I should have known some creep's been out there stalking my partner. I'm a _detective_ and I never even saw," he gestured at the photos, "_this_ happening."

"Neither did I, Scotty." She placed a gentle hand on his sleeve. "Neither did I."

* * *

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	4. For Your Protection

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Four:** For Your Protection

* * *

The photograph was of a crime scene. In the background, and slightly out of focus, two uniformed officers could be seen guarding the parameter. Behind the parameter tape, frozen forever in time, dozens of onlookers stood trying to get a glimpse of the recently discovered body. A body that had been only bones by the time it was discovered.

Samuel Garry, a 33-year-old lawyer. He had gone missing nearly twelve years prior to his body being discovered. One of the construction workers, that had found the body, could be seen in the background with the rest of the onlookers. It had been a near open and closed case, save for the twelve years in between. Garry had been murdered by his ex-wife's new boyfriend. The two of them had planned the murder in defense of the son Garry liked to beat up on during his visitation weekends.

Scotty swapped his attention to the blond, female detective in the picture. She was its focal point. In fact, she was clearly the focal point of all the photos they had discovered and taken into evidence just that morning. In this photo, she could be seen kneeling at the edge of the pit that contained Samuel Garry's skeletal remains.

"Forensic's find anything on those?" asked the same detective from the photo as she leaned back against the edge of his desk. Scotty glanced up at her and placed down the magnifying glass he'd been using to study the photo with.

"Nothing," he said, leaning back into his chair with a sigh. "Not so much as a partial print."

Her brow creased in contemplation of his words. Scotty thought it was cute. "He put up all those pictures using gloves?" she wondered aloud and Scotty nodded.

"It appears so," he spoke. "I think we can safely say that basement was for show. It was the perfect haven for any stalker... in a movie. And he made sure that we'd find it by leaving that door open."

"Then it was just another scare tactic," suggested Lilly and Scotty sighed. He wanted it to be nothing more than that but it was something much more.

"It was more than a scare tactic, Lil," he informed her and then handed over the photograph he'd been studying.

"The Samuel Garry case," Lilly stated, matter-of-factly, and Scotty was both amused and proud of her ability to remember cases. It had taken him nearly twenty minutes to put that crime scene together with the case it belonged to.

Scotty simply nodded his agreement. "That case from from a year ago," he informed her and the two made eye contact. "Some of the clippings and other pictures go back about ten months or so but that picture is the oldest."

"He's been following me around for a year," Lilly said softly and almost to herself.

"And that's more than just a scare tactic," Scotty pointed out needlessly, but gently.

"Then you think this guy's for real?" she asked him softly and they were suddenly interrupted by another voice.

"We certainly are going to behave like he is," John Stillman said. Scotty glanced over to find their lieutenant walking up to his desk. "I'm not taking any changes with someone out there threatening one of my detectives. We take every threat he makes seriously." He looked at Scotty. "If he makes another phone call, I want to hear about it."

"Sure thing, Boss," Scotty agreed with a nod.

"Good," continued Stillman. "Now, do some digging into your memory and see if you can come up with any viable threats you've received that might relate to this. I'd start around the time that first picture was taken."

"That's a pretty big order," Scotty pointed out. "I can think of a lot of times I've been threatened on this job."

Stillman nodded his understanding. "Think of the threats that stand out the most and the ones that could be relevant to someone using your partner against you. Also, think personal because this guy may not be from the job." Scotty nodded his agreement as he felt just a little more ill at the situation they were facing. Someone threatening Lilly for personal reasons opened up a whole new can of worms that John Stillman could know nothing about. It would bring into light things that neither he, nor Lilly, wanted him to know anything about.

"Lil," Stillman continued, "you need to avoid being alone and make sure someone is always with you or close by. I'm going to put a detail on your house for when you're home."

"That's not necessary, Boss," Lilly interjected and Scotty looked up at her. He knew what she was thinking. He even knew why she felt a car outside her house wasn't necessary. Still, he couldn't help but feel, that it was very much necessary.

"There's someone out there threatening your life," Stillman argued, "and you live alone. I fail to see how it's not necessary when we've put cops on houses for far less."

"That's very true," agreed Lilly, "but I'm not going to need one because I got something they didn't." Scotty had to keep from smiling.

"What's that?" asked Stillman, sounding very much annoyed. "A _gun_?"

"No," Lilly shook her head. "I've got my partner and, I intend, to volunteer _him_ for my protection." Scotty had to keep from laughing. He did believe she was adorable. Stillman simply seemed at a loss. "It'll save the department some money and save me the stress of a stranger outside my house all the time."

"Uh," began the lieutenant, sounding a bit uncertain, "that okay with you, Scotty?"

"Yeah, Boss," Scotty responded with a nod of his head. "I'll take care of her." No truer words had he ever spoken.

Stillman seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded. "Okay," he spoke, "if you two want to play sleepover then that's fine by me _but_... I'm still putting a detail outside that house for the hours you're there."

"Boss..." Lilly began but was interrupted.

"This is not for debate, Rush. The guy's been snapping pictures of you for at least a year. It's my hope we can catch him snooping around your house taking more pictures. Scotty being inside isn't going to help what's going on outside. I want someone _outside_ that house."

"He's right," Scotty spoke his agreement gently. She wasn't going to like this but it was the best way to keep her safe. Lilly remained silent and Scotty assumed that meant she'd agreed to the detail. Not that she really had much choice.

"Let me know if you come up with anything, Scotty?" Stillman said.

"Will do, Boss," Scotty responded and looked up to Lilly as their boss walked away. She was looking at the floor. She wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry, Lil," he began, "but Boss is right."

She nodded and looked at him. "I know," she said and Scotty suddenly wanted nothing more but to cheer her up. A mischievous smile spread across his face.

"Volunteer me for your protection, huh?" he asked and a small smile spread across her own features. He felt slightly triumphant.

Lilly shrugged. "I don't like strangers."

"Really?" Scotty questioned, unbelieving.

Lilly laughed and leaned in closer to him. "You know you love me," she whispered in his ear and then stood back up. She walked off without giving him a chance to respond.

Scotty smiled after her. "Absolutely," he whispered to himself as she disappeared inside the break room. Then, he stood up and went after her.


	5. The Things They Do

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Five:** The Things They Do

* * *

Lilly wasn't sure exactly when it had started. The feelings had been there for so long that she could hardly remember a moment when they didn't exist. But it was forbidden. And it was against the written, and unwritten, rules they lived by. But she had already given up so much for this job that, at some point, she'd found she wasn't willing to give up any more.

That was when she let her guard drop. And, being the detective he is, Scotty saw it drop. It was almost as though he'd been waiting for that moment to come. And in that moment the rules stopped mattering to her and they'd stopped mattering to him. In that moment, that he kissed her for the first time, they'd both found belonging. It was in the one place they should never have looked.

"Scotty," Lilly spoke. He was seated on the opposite end of the couch from herself, watching a sports show on the television. Lilly had her legs propped up between the two of them, reading a paperback novel.

"Yeah?" his voice acknowledged her but his eyes never left the TV. She smiled at this. He loved sports and she hated them. It was one of a few things they didn't have in common.

"Do you think Stillman was right?" she asked. "Do you think maybe this whole thing is personal?"

He looked over at her then and his expression said that she now held his full attention. "I've been thinking about that," Scotty began, "and all I can come up with is the caller was a guy and there's not many men I've pissed off in my personal life. Woman, maybe, but not men. I don't swing that way." He gave her a halfhearted smile. She returned it, just as halfhearted.

"It just doesn't make sense," she said and shook her head in thought. "We're threatened all the time on this job and almost nothing ever comes of it. So, why would someone go to the effort of stalking me for a year before threatening you? I doesn't make sense."

Scotty seemed to think about this for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and leaning back into the couch. "Who knows? We work on a daily basis with society's worse. Why do they do any of the things they do? At the end of the day, does any of it make any sense?"

Lilly nodded. "I guess," she spoke softly and looked back down at her book. She felt Scotty slide closer to her and her legs ended up in his lap. He then gently lifted her chin with his hand.

"Hey," he whispered and she blinked over at him. "I'm not gonna let him hurt you, Lilly. There's no way that guy is getting near you." She smiled softly at his words. His heart was in the right place and she knew he meant what he said. She also knew that it may simply be out of their control.

"I know," she said gently. She'd let him have this moment.

He leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She'd found, in the year that she'd been intimately involved with her partner, that there was always a meaning behind any given kiss they shared. It was as though a story were being revealed in every one of them. And, in this kiss, the story was that he loved her. That he'd protect her. Because he had no choice. He'd die without her.

* * *

Lilly woke with a start. She sat upright in bed and glanced around the shadows of her room. She didn't know what had woken her. She couldn't remember having a nightmare and felt no lingering effects of one. The room was quiet. Moonlight filtered in through thin curtains and at the end of her bed, sleeping peacefully, were her two cats. Beside her, Scotty also slept. One arm was beneath his pillow and the other, having been previously draped around her waist, was now in her lap.

She laid back into her pillows and smiled softly as Scotty, unconsciously, pulled her closer to himself. She willingly snuggled up against him and laid there content. She was just being jumpy, she assured herself. Being stalked could make anyone a bit jumpy. But Scotty, she knew, was the lighter sleeper between the two of them and had something outside of a dream woken her up then, she imagined, he'd also be awake.

Lilly glanced over at the clock on her nightstand. 3:16 AM. She closed her eyes and intended on returning to sleep when a loud knock reverberated through the house. Someone was at the front door. She sat back up and felt Scotty do the same from beside her.

"Stay here," he said, after a moment, and she felt his weight leave the bed. She glanced over at him. He was pulling on a pair of sweatpants.

"No way," she argued and stood up. She realized she had no clothes on and reached for the nearest piece of material she could find. Scotty's Philadelphia Eagle's t-shirt. She pulled it on over her head.

"Lilly..." he started, irritably, but one look at her and he gave up with no more than a deep sigh. He grabbed his gun from atop her dresser and Lilly did the same.

Scotty had always been protective of her. Even when they were no more than partners. It was his natural instinct to protect others. It was part of what made him such a good cop. He felt and he cared. He wasn't just going through the motions like so many other cops do. Like Lilly felt she, herself, sometimes did. When they had become more deeply involved she had watched this protective instinct of his increase exponentially.

At work, he kept his distance and let her do her job and deal with the scumbags they had to deal with every day. This was his only choice if they were going to maintain this separation of life's they'd started. Them at work and them at home. And, so far, they'd maintained it well. But, she'd found, that these rules always changed when it was just the two of them outside of work. At lease, they changed for him.

Lilly was independent, strong willed and had gone through the training to know how to take care of herself. There wasn't much that could scare her and, for her, these things didn't just go away because they'd stopped work for the day. She certainly loved his protectiveness of her and it made her feel loved. At the same time, his hero complex clashed with everything she was. And it was only a very few, and rare, occasions that Lilly ever dropped her guard completely and allowed Scotty to play the hero.

"At least stay behind me," he requested and headed for the door. Lilly smiled to herself as she followed after him. This much, she thought, she would give him.

They walked to the bottom of the stairs, through her living room and to the front door. Slowly, and with caution, Scotty opened the door. They knew it could simply be the cop that had been posted outside her house for the night. It could also be something worse. When the door was fully opened it revealed that no one was on the other side of it.

Across the street Lilly could see the unmarked car of the cop that had been placed to watch her house. His name, as he'd introduced himself earlier to her and Scotty, was Andrew Perry. From her distance and the darkness outside Lilly wasn't able to determine if he was actually inside the car or not. But she noticed no movement and no one got out of the car. Which, she knew, he should have. If, for no other reason, than the woman he was posted to be guarding was now standing in her doorway.

Scotty looked over at Lilly and she met his gaze. His eyes mirrored what she was feeling. He didn't trust this moment. Something was wrong.


	6. Death So Curious

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Six:** Death So Curious

* * *

If Lilly hadn't been scared before, she was terrified now.

Outside her house, half a dozen police cars were parked. Their lights all flashed red and blue against the dimness of the still rising sun. She could hear her boss shouting orders somewhere off in the distance. Vera, along with Kat Miller, were among those being shouted at. From her kitchen came the muffled sounds of Scotty talking with Will Jeffries. He was trying to explain what had happened the night before, while not really knowing himself.

Lilly sat on her couch, silent and unmoving, trying to comprehend the chaos around herself. Or, at least, to understand it. She turned her head as a breeze blew passed and glanced outside the opened doorway. A gurney was being wheeled up to an unmarked police car whose lights were absent. It was an ominous site. Of all the cop cars around, those marked and unmarked, it was the only one whose lights weren't flashing. Surrounding this scene, on the streets and sidewalks, stood about every person that lived on her block and, some, from many blocks over. They all stood as close by as the yellow tape would allow in order to watch events unfold with fascinated horror. Lilly felt sick to her stomach.

Two uniformed officers stepped up to assist the coroner in removing the lifeless body of Andrew Perry from his vehicle. It wasn't the body that made her sick. She had seen plenty of them. It wasn't the onlookers either. She was used to them and knew that it was only natural for people to find death so curious. But, it was, the fact that this man, who had been ordered outside her house to protect her, had died because of it. He had died so that some sociopath could make a point. And a point he had certainly made.

Andrew Perry had been found dead, by herself and her partner, locked inside his own police issued vehicle. His throat had been slit. No one yet knew how the killer had made this all possible. Maybe they never would.

The sudden silence from Lilly's kitchen drew her attention back to the current room. She watched as Scotty and Jeffries appeared from around a corner. Both looked at her with concern. Most especially Scotty. She didn't want their concern. In fact, it bothered her. Everyone here, except the uniforms that didn't know her, seemed more concerned with her than the body outside. They were scared for what could have happened last night instead of what did happen. She wanted their attention on Andrew Perry. The real victim.

"You okay?" Jeffries asked and Lilly nodded. She locked eyes with Scotty as Jeffries passed by and left the house. Scotty's eyes told her that he didn't believe her.

"So," he began as he sat down on the couch next to her, "how are you really doing?" She didn't answer. She simply looked down at her own hands. He reached out and took one of her hands in his. She watched as their fingers intertwined and felt as so many words passed between them in silence.

"He shouldn't have died, Scotty," Lilly finally spoke. "Not because of me."

"Hey." He used his other hand beneath her chin to force her gaze to his own. "This ain't your fault," his voice was firm and gentle at the same time. She didn't believe him, even though she knew he was right.

"Why did he do this? He killed a cop that had nothing to do with either of us to, what, make a _statement_? To show you how easy it would be to kill _me_?" She was upset and could feel the tears forming in her eyes. She refused to let them fall.

"He's still playing the same game he was before," Scotty spoke gently. "Only, now, he's letting us know just how serious that game is. He's trying to scare me."

"Murder?" she asked. "_That's_ his game?"

"That's what it's all leading up to," Scotty said and Lilly saw the regret wash over his face the second the words left his lips. She realized they'd been a spoken thought and _had_ he thought them first he wouldn't have said them aloud. "I'm sorry," he added quickly.

"But it's true," she said. "This is all leading up to him killing _me_. He's proven to us he can do it and that he has no issues with killing a cop."

"He's not gonna kill you, Lilly," Scotty spoke gently, assuredly. "That cop out there was alone. You won't be. I'm not leaving your side till this creep's been caught and is behind bars... or dead."

"That's your plan?" she asked him almost humorously. "To just never leave me alone. Ever. What about when I gotta go to the bathroom or take a shower?"

"I'll wait outside the door for the bathroom part but the shower..." His face grew a small and mischievous grin and Lilly realized she'd walked right into this one. "I'll be right there with you, baby."

Despite their situation, Lilly laughed and, she found, it felt pretty good to laugh. Scotty's smile faded first as he gazed at her with an expression of adoration, love and something else, she was certain, she'd never quite identify without jumping inside his head. His hand reached up and brushed a lock of hair away from her eye. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her.

"We've got a tow coming in for the car," Stillman's voice spoke from the doorway. Both her and Scotty jumped at the sound and pulled quickly apart from each other. Had their boss noticed the intimacy of the situation he'd just walked in on, he gave no indication of it. He stepped over to a nearby chair and sat down.

"The body?" asked Scotty, clearing his throat at the same time. Lilly felt stupid. There were dozens of cops outside, including everyone they worked with. That had been way too close.

"They've taken it already. It's on the way to the city morgue as we speak." Stillman stopped and looked at his two detective's for a moment. "Everything okay? I mean, despite..." he asked and Lilly had to keep from panicking.

"Fine," Scotty assured, perhaps a bit too quickly. Lilly nodded, perhaps a bit too vigorously.

Their lieutenant didn't seem fully convinced, to no surprise of Lilly's, but let the issue drop anyhow. "There's something we need to discuss," he said.

Lilly heart couldn't beat any faster. "What's that?" she asked, trying to sound casual and hoping it was working.

"The possibility of sending both of you to a safe house," Stillman said and Lilly was shaking her head before he'd even finished the sentence.

"No," she said flatly.

"Lil, he killed a cop. If he can do what he did last night then he can get to you."

"And a safe house is gonna change that?" she asked, unbelieving. "Do you honestly think I'll be any safer in some hideout than I am here? If he's been stalking me for a year, without any of us knowing, then he can follow me to a safe house."

Stillman nodded. "I had considered that."

"I agree with, Lil," Scotty added. "She's safer here. Where she knows her surroundings."

"All right," Stillman said, standing back up. "I'm not going to force the issue just yet. But it's going to remain an option that we may have to consider, more seriously, later."

There was the sudden and loud sound of a vehicle pulling up outside the house. They all glanced over to see the city tow truck had arrived. Stillman headed towards the door but stopped to place a comforting hand on Lilly's shoulder as he passed.

"You need anything, Lil, you let me know?" he said sincerely and Lilly nodded as she looked up at him.

"Thanks, Boss," she gave him her best, fake, smile and he walked away and out of the house. When he was gone she and Scotty glanced over at each other. Both their eyes said the same thing. That had been far too close.

* * *

(: I appreciate, immensely, every single review I have gotten! Thank you! :)


	7. Detective

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Seven:** Detective

* * *

Scotty glanced around himself. It was only two in the afternoon and Jones' Tavern was already bustling with more cops than seemed healthy. He just hoped most these cops were off duty for the day because a few of them, sitting at the far end of the bar, already seemed too drunk to even walk straight.

"Pictures, huh?" the bartender questioned. He sat aside the beer he'd just poured and reached for a new mug.

Scotty nodded. "Yeah. Anyone with a camera? Snapping pictures? Have you noticed anything like that?"

"Naw," he shook his head for emphasis. "Can't say I have. It gets crowded here though. I mean, you should know. And, at night, the place is pretty dark. Again, you should know."

Scotty sighed. He did know. "Darkness," the detective continued, "would only make a flash stand out more."

The bartender finished pouring the second beer and sat it aside as well. He looked up at Scotty, at Lilly, then back at Scotty. "Like I said, I haven't seen anyone in here snapping photos. Can't imagine why anyone would want to."

"Aren't you new here?" Lilly asked suddenly. Both men looked over at her. "You just started here, right?"

The worker nodded and reached for a new mug. He pulled down on the tap and more beer began spilling out. "Yeah," he said, "I started about two months ago."

Lilly looked at Scotty. "We need to find someone that's worked here longer than two months," she pointed out and Scotty nodded his own agreement.

"Tracy," interjected the other man. Both cops looked back over at him.

"Tracy?" questioned Scotty.

"Tracy Leeman. He's worked here longer than anyone so, if someone's seen your picture taker, he probably has."

Scotty knew who Tracy was. He'd been working the bar for at least as long as Scotty had been frequenting it. Which was as long as he'd been in homicide. He looked over at his partner and the two of them agreed, silently, to go find Tracy Leeman.

"We're gonna need his address."

* * *

"Yeah, sure, I remember the guy with the camera." Tracy Leeman was leaning against the door frame to his apartment. "Said he was making a documentary on cops."

"And you accepted that?" asked Scotty.

"No," Tracy shook his head, "I didn't. I told the creep to stop taking his pictures or get lost. Or both. I could have cared less."

"And did he," asked Lilly, "stop taking the pictures? Or get lost?"

Tracy looked over at her and nodded his head. "Yeah, he stopped taking the pictures. But he kept watching you." A small chill ran through Lilly at those words and she glanced over at her partner. He seemed as affected by them as she was.

"He was watching Detective Rush?" asked Scotty and Tracy nodded again. He looked back over at Scotty.

"At first, I wasn't sure," the bartender began, "but it became obvious soon enough. Every time she was there, so was he. And he was always pointing that camera in her direction. If I spotted him, I'd tell him to stop or leave." Tracy paused then and looked from one detective to the other. "Has he done something?"

"We believe he's responsible for the murder of a cop last night," Scotty informed and Tracy appeared genuinely upset by this news.

"Man, I knew that creep was up to no good," Tracy said, shaking his head sadly.

"Yet you didn't bother to inform us he was snapping pictures of my partner," Scotty pointed out. He sounded angry and Lilly glanced over at him. His jaw was set, his face was stern and his eye's were blazing. She knew the stalking part bothered him more than anything. And, what was worse about it, was that he hadn't known it was happening.

"Hey," Tracy defended, "look man, I didn't think much of it. I didn't think anything would come of it. I mean, she's a cop! I just figured he was some loser with a crush on a woman he didn't stand a chance with."

"We like to call them stalkers," Scotty spat.

Tracy shook his head regretfully. "And I wish I had seen that. All right, man? But I just saw some loser pining for a girl he couldn't have."

"What did he look like?" asked Scotty.

"Well," began Tracy, "like you actually." Lilly had to keep herself from smiling. Which wasn't easy because she was having a hard time containing her laughter, let alone, a smile.

"Gee, thanks," Scotty mumbled as he pulled his notepad from out of his jacket pocket.

"Ah, I mean..." Tracy stammered. He seemed to realize the insult he'd just hurled at a cop. Unintentionally, as it may have been. "Well, come on, _you_, you're a cop. This guy? He had loser written all over him."

"What did he look like?" repeated Scotty, annoyed.

"He was Latino, slightly shorter than yourself, his hair was kind of ragged and dark colored. He looked... Latino."

"Latino?" asked Scotty, sounding more irritated. "That's what you're giving me? He looked _Latino_."

Tracy shrugged. "Sorry, man. It was dark and I had other things I was doing at the times I noticed him. I wasn't exactly checking the guy out, you know? And he's not been in the tavern for months. I'm not like you guys. I can't just pull up a face from memory and recall every detail. I'm not trained like that."

"I have news for you, buddy," Scotty put away his notepad and pulled out one of his work cards, "neither are we." He handed Tracy the card. "Call if you remember anything."

"Sure thing, man." Tracy started to go back inside then stopped and looked back at them. "Look, I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful. I just never thought there was anything to the guy, you know?"

"Just call if you remember anything," said Scotty as he lead Lilly away with a hand at the small of her back.

* * *

"So, we've got one word," Scotty said as the two detectives stepped back outside and into the warm evening air. "Latino. That's a lot to go off of. It could be me."

Lilly smiled over at him as they headed for where they'd left the car. "I'm pretty sure," she said with a suggestively knowing tone, "I got your alibi for last night."

"Well, maybe, no one will believe it. I mean, apparently, you're _way_ outta my league."

Lilly laughed at this but Scotty didn't see the humor and just glared back at her. "I think you're quite adorable myself," she pointed out as she gently bumped into his side.

"Adorable?" Scotty let the word roll off his tongue. He'd used it to describe her in the past but, found, he didn't much like it for himself. "Thanks for that. That's just what every guy aspires to be. _Adorable_." Lilly laughed again but her smile quickly faded as they stepped up to where they'd left the car.

"What..." he asked, but then followed her gaze, and the rest of his words died on his lips. On the windshield of their car, placed beneath the wiper, was a small envelope. Scotty stepped forward and removed the envelope. He glanced around at their current surroundings but saw no one that stood out.

Lilly stepped up beside him. Scotty examined the envelope. It was your standard, white, envelope with one word printed on the face of it: Detective. It weighed close to nothing and Scotty turned it over in his hands and proceeded to open it.

"Maybe we should have someone look at it before we go ripping it open," Lilly quickly suggested. Scotty said nothing as he pulled out what was inside the envelope. A picture.

"Guy really likes pictures," Scotty commented dryly as he flipped the offending photo over so they could view its front side. What they found the photo to be of should have shocked the detective. But it didn't. Somehow, he thought, it was appropriate. In a very inappropriate way.

"He's got a camera in my house," Lilly whispered from beside him. The photograph was of himself and Lilly. They were both laying on her couch, inside her house, in a rather intimate pose.

Scotty was furious. He shoved the photo back inside it's envelope and headed for the driver's side of the car. "Get in," he ordered. "We're going to your place."

* * *

**End Note:** Okay, maybe one of the more boring chapters. But... please push that review button before you leave. :)


	8. The Golden Goose

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Eight**: The Golden Goose

* * *

Lilly had to admit that she was a little afraid to say anything and even more afraid to get in his way. It's not that she felt he were a danger to her because she knew he wasn't. It was just that she had never seen him this angry before. Or, maybe, she had never seen his this _kind_ of angry before.

"Scotty," she spoke with caution. He looked over at her, his eyes softening just slightly when they settled on hers.

"Yeah?" he asked and Lilly pointed to an area on the other side of the living room.

"The picture was taken from over there," she informed him and then handed the picture over to him. He wasn't the most logical person, she realized, when he was this upset. He studied the photo and then looked over to the area she had just pointed to.

"The fireplace," he said and then walked over to it. Lilly was relieved he'd left behind her bookshelves. They were now a jumbled mess that she'd have to, later, reorganize. She followed him over to her fireplace. His hand collided into a framed photograph and knocked it from its resting place and onto the floor. It landed with the sound of breaking glass and Lilly cringed.

"Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound very sorry, and reached for a small mantle clock.

"Be careful with that," she pleaded, but he was already taking apart the clock face. Lilly sighed and looked over the remaining objects on top of her mantle. There were two more framed photos. One of her and her sister when they were little and one of some friends she never saw anymore. There was also a scattering of various knickknacks she'd collected over the years. Her eyes skimmed over, and then settled, on one of these knickknacks. Something about it, she realized, was wrong.

"Scotty," she said and reached for the object. It was a small porcelain egg. It had been painted to appear shiny gold. All around the egg were seams that allowed it to be opened. On the inside, Lilly knew, it was empty. At least, it should have been empty.

"What is it?" Scotty asked from beside her. On the side of the egg that had been facing towards the living room, was a shiny and black circle. But it should have been a small button with the image of a goose engraved on it. Pushing down on the button had opened the egg.

"The golden goose," she answered his question. "I've had it since I was a kid. It came with the book."

She looked over at him and Scotty took the object from her. Slowly, he separated the two pieces of the golden egg. On the inside, staring out a hole created by the missing button, was a miniature surveillance camera. Scotty pulled out the camera and dangled it in the air for them to view. He sat back down the egg.

"How far do you think it's range could be?" she asked.

Scotty shrugged. "Probably not far but there's no way to trace these kinds of things."

"But he could still be close by."

Scotty glanced over at her. "He's probably always close by. He's stalking you." He looked back at the camera and pulled off a wire that dangled from it, rendering it useless. "But since he sent us that picture, wherever this thing fed to, he's no longer there."

Lilly nodded her understanding and agreement, then walked over to her couch and sat down. She leaned back into the couch, resting her head against the backrest, with a deep sigh. This wasn't good. This guy was getting too close. Too personal. And he was no more than a shadow to them.

"You all right?" Scotty asked. She felt him sit down on the couch beside her but her eyes were concentrating on the ceiling above.

"Should we tell him?" She turned her head to look at Scotty. For a moment he just looked back at her, thinking, then shook his head.

"Boss would be forced to separate us if we came forward. And, right now, is not a good time for us to be separated. Far as I see it this camera isn't changing much, and we're both detectives, we can figure... How do you suppose he got the camera there?"

"It's evidence, Scotty," Lilly said, ignoring his question. "And this isn't just about us anymore. It's about a cop who got murdered outside my house."

"I know, Lilly," his words were spoken softly and he was looking back at the small camera in his hands. She knew the death of that cop had affected him too. Not just because he had died so close to her and to them. But because he had been a cop, who had died. "But we can't be separated right now." His eyes were back on hers, pleading with her, begging her, to understand. She sighed.

"We need to try and find out where the camera could have been purchased," she began, "and how it got in my house."

"It could," Scotty responded, "have been purchased from the Internet. Tracking that down would be a near dead end. As far as how it got into your house..."

An idea occurred to Lilly as a memory entered her consciousness. "A couple weeks ago my AC broke," she said simply.

"And?" Scotty encouraged.

"And I had it fixed, Scotty. There was someone in my house."

"Was he left alone?" he questioned.

"No," she started, but had to cut herself off. "Yes. He said he couldn't take a credit card but that they took checks. I had to go find one upstairs. When I got back he was in here, standing by the fireplace. I didn't think anything of it at the time. He said he'd finished up with the AC."

"I don't suppose he was Latino," he said.

"No," Lilly shook her head, "Caucasian."

"Still," Scotty said in thought, "it could have been him that placed this."

"I hope so," she said despairingly. "Or someone else was in here when I wasn't."

"I'll check it out tomorrow."

"I'll let you know the company who..." her words trailed. "Scotty?"

"Yeah?" He looked at her questioningly.

"This is personal, isn't it?" she asked, catching his eyes with hers. "He's not doing this because I'm your partner. He's doing this because I'm your girlfriend."

Scotty never answered her. He didn't need to.

* * *

The next day Lilly found herself seated at her desk, twirling a pen in her hands. She was bored and Stillman had forbidden her to go anywhere until he'd had a chance to talk with her later. Apparently, he had information on a new case.

"Lil." Lilly glanced up as her lieutenant stepped up beside her desk. He was carrying a white evidence box in his arms.

"Boss?" she questioned him. The pen in her hands clattered to the desktop.

"Garret Penning," he said, setting the box down on the desk in front of her. "He was a homicide cop for nearly twenty-two years before he retired from the force. Last week he died of a heart attack."

Lilly eyed the box suspiciously. "Did you know him?" she asked.

"No," Stillman shook his head, "but when his family was going through his home they found these." He gestured at the box and Lilly lifted the lid off of it and peered inside. Her eyes widened. It was filled, to the very top, with vanilla case files and envelopes.

"I've heard of cops collecting old cases but..." She leaned back in her chair. "That's a lot of cases."

"And," informed her lieutenant, "there's another box where it came from."

"Impressive." Lilly picked up her pen and began twirling it again between her fingers. "So, you want them filed or something? Because, that's not really my job, is it?"

"They're unsolved, Lil." Her fingers stopped moving and the pen fell again. This time, it clattered to the floor beneath her desk.

"Unsolved?" she asked and Stillman nodded. "All of them?"

He nodded again. "From what I could tell. Mind you, I only did a cursory exam of them and the next box does appear to be mainly no more than evidence for the cases in this box."

"So," Lilly asked, "he stole cases from the department _and_ evidence?" Stillman nodded. "Impressive," she repeated and looked back at the box with a shrug. "What am I suppose to do with them?"

"Go through them," he stated simply. "See if you come up with anything new."

The detective blinked up at her boss in bewilderment. "You're joking, right?" When his only response was silence, she sighed, feeling that her days were about to get a lot more boring. "Am I allowed to go out into the field with this?"

He shrugged. "Just see what you come up with in the files first. _If_, you must do an interview, we'll talk."

Lilly nodded, understanding were this was all really going and what it was really about. "So, this is about keeping me off the streets."

"It's about unsolved cases, Rush," she could hear the annoyance in his voice. She didn't care, she was annoyed too. "It's about cold cases and that's what we do. And I need someone, who knows what they're doing, to go through these cases."

"And, _naturally_, that someone is me," the words were more spoken for herself and she didn't give Stillman a chance to argue with them. "Is there any new direction to go with? Did the guy keep working them after he retired? Give me something, Boss."

"We don't know," Stillman stated flatly. "That's why you're going to go through them." He started to walk away. "I'll bring you the other box."

"No hurry," she mumbled to herself, "I'm sure I got enough material here to last weeks." This is a long and dead-end road, she thought after that. Lilly grabbed the file on top and began to open it.

"Where's your partner?" Stillman suddenly asked. Lilly glanced over. The lieutenant was now standing at the door to his office.

"He," she began, "had something he needed to take care of this morning. Said he'd be in later." Stillman accepted this with a nod and turned into his office. Lilly sighed, sank deeper into her chair, and began to read.


	9. Weirdness

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Chapter Nine:** Weirdness

* * *

A bell, above the door, struck against a sign that read _Household Repairs_ as Scotty stepped into the building. He found himself, alone, inside a small reception area. As he glanced around he spotted six chairs, a set of three on either side of the door, that were maroon, hard plastic and too uncomfortable looking to even consider sitting down in. The carpet beneath his feet was a dark maroon. The walls were covered in maroon and gold wallpaper. And, against the back wall, was a large reception desk made of mahogany. The mahogany blended too well in with it's maroon surroundings for his liking and the detective decided that this was a color he did not like.

Scotty stepped up to the reception desk. Behind it was a hallway that extended out and away from the reception area. He spotted a few doors that lead off this corridor but saw nothing else. "Hello," he called out. There was no response or sound from down the hall. On the desk he saw a silver bell shining on top of a stack of papers and he reached out to tap it. He then noticed a small sign. It leaned up against an old CRT monitor and informed the customer that they accepted all major credit cards. Scotty tapped the bell and a resounding ring came out.

After just a few seconds a door opened and a man stepped out. He headed down the hallway and towards the detective. He was Caucasian and middle-aged. His hair was blond and thinning, his face was shaven. He was short, skinny and wore a red polo with blue jeans. A name-tag on his polo introduced him as Henry. As he stepped up and behind the desk he smiled over at Scotty.

"What can I do for you, buddy?" he asked.

Scotty pulled out his badge and flashed it for Henry to see. "Detective Valens," he informed. "I need some information on a repair."

Henry nodded and moved over to the computer. "What repair and what information?" he asked.

"It was three weeks ago for a Lilly Rush. I need..." his words paused. Henry had just tensed up. His jaw had set, his hands were shaky and he seemed, suddenly, very nervous. "To know who made the repair," Scotty finished.

"Uh," Henry stammered and tapped a few keys on the keyboard, "strangest thing. I can't seem to pull anything up. Let me just go in the back and..." Scotty was already around the desk and on the other side before Henry had a chance to take off. On his way he had grabbed the cardboard sign stating they accepted all major credit cards.

The detective shoved Henry roughly against the wall with one arm beneath the man's chin. It was enough to cause him discomfort, but not enough to choke him, and it took all the detective's strength to keep it that way. With his free arm he shoved the cardboard sign in Henry's face.

"Don't accept credit cards, huh?" Scotty spat, then he flung the sign to the floor and grabbed a better hold on Henry. "Or, maybe, you just like spying on pretty girls?"

"I can explain!" the man exclaimed. Scotty shoved him harder into the wall.

"Then you had better start explaining," he said coldly, "because that woman was a _cop_." At this information, the repair worker's eyes opened a little bit wider. Scotty was taken back by this reaction but not enough to loosen his grip.

"Look, I didn't put that camera there!"

Scotty shoved harder into his neck. "I didn't mention a camera!"

"All right! I put it there but I had no choice..."

* * *

_A man walks into the front room on Household Repairs. He is wearing a long overcoat with a hood that is pulled up over his head. Above the door, a bell jingles, announcing his presence. Henry looks up from the latest issue of "Cycle World". As the newcomer walks towards him, his head is down and shadowed by his hood._

_"Can I help you, buddy?" asks Henry as the man steps up to the reception desk. Without speaking the stranger places a gun down on the desk in front of Henry. Henry stands up from the chair he's been seated in, backs up and puts his hands in the air._

_"Woh," he says, "I don't want any trouble. We don't keep much cash here..."_

_The stranger keeps one hand on the gun while his other reaches into his jacket. He pulls out a roll of cash and places it on the desk beside his gun. "Lilly Rush," he speaks, his voice is deep and his pronunciation is precise. "You have an appointment with her tomorrow."_

_"Ah, okay, if you say so. I don't memorize the appointment book." The stranger ignores these words and pulls out another item from his jacket. It is a small surveillance camera. He sets it beside the cash and gun._

_"Place this in her house. Hide it somewhere. And you'll never see me again."_

* * *

Scotty put more pressure on Henry's neck and the man started gasping for air. Scotty didn't care. He was fuming. "I'm supposed to believe this crap story?" he demanded.

"It's..." the man gasped, "the truth."

"Why'd you place the camera? You didn't know who that man was! You didn't know if he'd ever return!"

"I was..." more gasps, "scared." Henry's eyes closed and he swayed slightly beneath Scotty's hold. The detective finally relented and let go. Henry dropped to the floor, gasping for breath. "I'd never even heard of that woman before," Henry said, looking up at Scotty. "I didn't know she was a cop. I didn't even know who she was."

Scotty ignored him as he glanced around at all four corners of the room. His eyes finally settled on what he was looking for. "I want your surveillance tapes for that day," he demanded, looking back down at the collapsed repair man. He nodded, rubbed at his neck, but didn't move. "Now!"

Henry got to his feet and headed down the hallway. Scotty followed after him.

* * *

Lilly sighed, tossed aside a file, and reached for a new one. She was going over her preliminary evaluation of the cases her lieutenant had given to her that morning. She'd found, so far, that most of the cases were twenty years old, or older. And, she thought, most likely unsolvable. Though, they had solved older cases in the past. Of an interesting note, she had also found that Garret Penning hadn't even been involved in most of the investigations for the cases he had chosen to take home with him.

"This guy was like a collector," she said, to no one in particular.

"Have you found any cold ones?" asked Scotty from his desk. Lilly looked over at him incredulously and with a stare that would have made most men cower. Her partner didn't even notice. He was too busy tossing a baseball up in the air and catching it on its way back down.

"They're all cold, Scotty," she spat out. "Were you even listening when I told you about this load of... Boss gave me?"

Scotty blinked and looked over at her. "I'm sorry, Lil," he informed her gently. "I was... preoccupied."

Lilly's own mood grew a little more tolerable. She glanced around, to see that no one was listening, before leaning slightly over her desk and towards his. "Did you find anything on the tape?" she asked quietly.

Scotty shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "It was useless. The bastard never showed his face to the camera." Scotty tossed the ball once more, caught it, then sat it down on his desk. He stood up and walked around to Lilly's desk.

"Watcha got?" he asked, grabbing a file from inside a cardboard box.

"Weirdness," she told him. "This cop, Garret Penning," Scotty nodded and Lilly continued, "he never even worked most these cases."

Scotty frowned as he opened his acquired file and leaned back against his partner's desk. "Then why was he so interested in them?"

Lilly shrugged. "Wish I knew." She thought for a second. "Wish he'd of burned them before he died." The detective leaned back in her chair exasperated.

Scotty gave her a smile. "Come on," he said encouragingly, "it can't be that bad."

"It's like he was on some crusade to solve all the unsolved cases in Philly." At these words Scotty's lips curved into a mischievous smile. Lilly glared at him. He didn't seem to notice.

"I don't know anybody like that," he said and Lilly had to restrain herself from pushing him away from her desk.

"It's not the same," she defended. "I don't take cases and hide them in my house. I don't steal cases from other cops. And, we work cold cases. Most these cases weren't cold during Penning's time."

"Then why keep them?" Scotty wondered aloud, glancing over the box of remaining files.

"Scotty." Both detective's glanced over at the voice. Their lieutenant was standing at the entrance to the bullpen with a young woman at his side. Lilly didn't recognize her. "This is Sage Penning," Stillman continued. "She's the one who brought in those cases this morning." Scotty nodded an acknowledgment. "Says she's got three more boxes down in her car. Would you mind going down and helping her haul them up?"

"Three more?" Lilly asked, though it was quiet enough that only her and her partner would have heard the words. She felt, suddenly, like crying.

"Sure thing, Boss." Scotty gave her a large, knowing, smile and she wanted to punch him. He took off before she had the chance. Lilly sighed and went back to reading her latest file.


	10. Sound of Laughter

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** Okay, I went over this a few days ago but would normally do so again right before posting. As it is, I don't have the time right now. I hope it's okay. Any grammar errors blame on my computer. It's evil! It hates me!

**Chapter Ten:** Sound of Laughter

* * *

"I didn't mean to bother anyone," Sage Penning said. Her and Scotty were walking through the visitor parking lot of PPD. They were headed for the car she had parked there with the remaining police files inside. "I could have brought them up myself."

Scotty shrugged. "It's no problem," he informed her. "I'm sorry about your... grandfather?"

"Um, yeah, and don't be," she said uncertainly. "He was kind of a jerk. No one really liked him. Or spoke to him. He was really the black sheep of our family."

Scotty nodded. "I know the type."

"I mean," she continued, "we just never really understood him either. His decision to spend his life as a cop never made any sense." She stopped then and looked over at Scotty, then back down at the ground sheepishly. "I mean... I'm sorry. I didn't mean that insultingly."

Scotty shrugged and let out a small chuckle. "It's cool."

"No. It was rude and I'm sorry. Being a cop is an honorable job. It's just, you see, my family has money. Lots of money. And, so did he." She looked over at him to see if he were following her meaning. Scotty gave her a nod to tell her to continue. She did. "He was rich but he lived in this small studio apartment, on the bad side of town, most all his life. Working as a _cop_. We just never understood it."

She stopped walking then. So did Scotty. She pulled her keys out from her purse and pushed a button on them. The trunk, to a car at their left, clicked to an unlocked state and popped up just slightly. Sage reached out and lifted it open the rest of the way. Inside were three white evidence boxes.

"Maybe," Scotty spoke, "he just really liked the life." The detective then reached for two of the boxes inside her trunk. He stacked them on top of each other and lifted them out of the car. Sage grabbed the last one and slammed shut the trunk. The two of them turned and headed back towards PPD.

"And when he died," Sage continued her story almost at once and Scotty got the feeling this girl liked to talk, "he left all that money to you guys. Twelve-million dollars."

The detective nearly tripped over his own feet. "Twelve-million dollars?" he asked incredulously. "He left _twelve-million dollars_ to the police department of Philadelphia?"

"No," Sage shook her head and Scotty was certain he'd misheard something. "He left twelve-million dollars to the _cops_ of Philadelphia. To you guys. To be distributed among those still working and those retired, regardless of rank and position."

He had misheard, but only sort of, and the truth wasn't any less bizarre. Scotty stared, unblinking, as the ground passed beneath his feet. This Penning guy was getting more interesting, and more strange, with each new piece of information they gathered on him.

"But," Sage continued with a shrug, "considering how many of you there are... It's not really going to be that much money in the end. Per person. You know."

"Still," wondered Scotty aloud, "why would he do it? Wouldn't that kind of money do a lot better being kept as a whole and donated... somewhere as a whole?"

"Probably," responded Sage with a nod as they reached the building. "But it was his wish and my family won't stand in the way. I mean, you know, even if they could and all. It is an honorable job and we figure you all deserve it. Although, I suppose, it may appear more insulting than anything, depending on how little it actually comes out to in the end."

* * *

"Twelve-million dollars?" asked Vera. His eyes were wide as he stood near Scotty and Lilly's desks.

"Yup," nodded Scotty. He leaned back in his chair and tossed his baseball up in the air. It came back down and he caught it with ease.

"Twelve-million... What's a guy with twelve-million dollars doing working for the PPD?" Vera asked aloud.

"That's what his family wanted to know," Scotty said. He missed catching the baseball and it landed on the floor, rolled off, and bounced against a nearby desk. The detective sighed, then stood up and went to retrieve it.

"Does it really matter?" Lilly spoke up. She was still peeved at having three more boxes of files and evidence sat in front of her and it sounded in her voice. "That'll come out to, what, twenty-dollars a cop when you spread it out between all of us? There's a lot of us."

"Which begs the question of why he did it," pointed out Scotty as he returned to his seat, baseball in hand.

"Maybe he was senile," suggested Lilly. "Or, _maybe_, he thought it was good payment for my new job as file clerk." Scotty smiled over at her. He thought she was cute. Annoyed and all.

"Maybe," Vera said and Scotty could immediately hear the hint of humor in the older detective's voice, "but why am I getting my twenty-bucks? I'm not having to go through any old files."

Lilly shot Vera a look that a lesser man would have run from. Even Scotty found himself cringing from the stare. But, Nick Vera, wasn't a lesser man and he had become immune to all Lilly's glares. Indeed, the detective didn't seem to even notice it, as he reached for his suit jacket and began pulling it on.

"Well," said Vera, "I've got an interview to go on." He looked over at Lilly. "You know, for a _case_." Scotty could not help the small chuckle that escaped his lips. Lilly immediately turned her glare on him. He tried to drop the smile but, somehow, failed.

* * *

"Anything on Andrew Perry?" Lilly suddenly asked, looking back at Vera, and Scotty's smile did fade. Vera looked back at the two, his eyes shifting from one detective to the other, finally they landed on the back office where their boss was. Scotty's own gaze followed and he found that Stillman was on the phone with his door shut.

"Sort of," he informed them. "Boss, he doesn't really want you in on this. At least, not until we know more, for certain."

"What do you know?" asked Lilly. She wasn't used to taking _no comment_ as an accepted answer.

Vera sighed and Scotty knew he was going to cave. "We found a vial in the car."

"A vile?" asked Scotty.

"Yeah, like an evidence vial. Only, it didn't come from us." The detective's eyes darted back to the office and then settled, once again, on Scotty. "We found a hair inside it."

"A hair?" Scotty and Lilly echoed and Vera nodded.

"A hair," he confirmed. "Like the bastard planted it there in the same way we'd of collected it had we found it at the scene as evidence. It's at forensics now. They're testing it and will run it through a database when they're done. See if it pops up any known criminals or whatnot."

"Like he's gonna leave his own DNA at the scene," Lilly said, "on purpose."

"Probably not," Vera agreed, "but it means something. It's got to."

"Yeah," Lilly picked back up the file she had been reading earlier, "because killers and stalkers are always so obvious."

* * *

It had gotten late. Scotty was tired. He was hungry. And his eyes hurt. He rubbed at them. He and his partner had been doing nothing but reading over old documents for hours now. He wanted to go home and get some food and sleep. He glanced across his desk at Lilly. She was biting at her bottom lip in concentration of whatever it was she was reading. Food, sleep and maybe something else. Not necessarily in that order.

Lilly must have felt his stare. She suddenly looked up and their eyes met. He smiled and she shook her head at him. Clearly, she knew what he was thinking. She looked back down at the file in her hands. Scotty's smile only broadened. Most everyone had already left the office for the night and so he wasn't too worried about this exchange being seen.

"I've found no evidence that Penning continued work on these cases," Lilly suddenly spoke. "You?" She looked back over at him. He took in a deep breath and shook his head.

"Naw," Scotty answered. "Not unless he put his findings elsewhere."

"Which wouldn't make much sense," Lilly pointed out.

"Nope," Scotty agreed and continued to watch her, maybe a bit too intently, but his mind was now far from the cases at hand. He wanted to go home. Which was pretty much any place that she was with him that wasn't headquarters. His desk phone rang. He cursed inwardly at the intrusion but instinctively reached out to answer it. "Valens."

"Hello, Detective," at the sound of the familiar voice, Scotty immediately tensed up. He stared over at Lilly, his eyes telling her who was on the line with him, and she nodded her understanding. She stood up and walked over to Vera's empty desk.

"Nice of you to call again," Scotty said. "Oh, and, my partner? She's doing just fine, thanks for asking." At Vera's desk Lilly had picked up the phone and dialed in a number.

"I noticed you met with Henry today," the caller said. Scotty's brow creased in thought. Lilly was now speaking faintly into the phone at Vera's desk. "How'd that go?"

"The repairman you hired to place a camera into my partner's house," Scotty said. "Really, man, you gotta get yourself a girl."

"I'll just wait for yours," he spoke and Scotty's jaw set in anger. "Now, tell me, did you hurt him? Did you maybe beat him up a little?"

"What are you playing at?" asked Scotty. Dread was already growing inside him.

"Because if you did," Scotty could hear the sneer in the caller's words, "I'm afraid this is going to look real bad for you."

"What is..." the detective never got the chance to finish his words. A piercing scream filtered through the phone. It was filled with both terror and, Scotty thought, pain. Scotty sat up straighter in his chair and gripped the phone so tight his hand began to ache. But he barely even noticed the discomfort. "What the hell have you done?" he asked as the scream slowly faded. It was replaced, quickly, with the sound of laughter.

"Didn't you ever wonder, Detective, why it was I didn't just place that camera myself? It would have been very easy but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun." Another laugh and the line went dead.

Scotty didn't move. He didn't place the phone down, not even when it began beeping back at him. His heart was beating so heavy that he could hear the pounding of blood in his ears.

"Scotty," his partner's worried voice filtered through to his ears. He blinked and looked up at her. She gently took the phone from his hands and placed it back on the base. "Trace didn't get anything... What did he say to you, Scotty?"

"I think I'm in trouble, Lil."


	11. In This Together

**S T A L K E D****  
**By: incoherenThought

**Note:** I'm sorry for the delay in this posting. Real life has interfered with my writing and getting things posted on the net. It's been a bad couple weeks and, unfortunately, future posts may come a little slow as well. I am working as best I can, though, on this story, and with any luck will have it finished soon enough and, eventually, all posted. :)

**Chapter Eleven:** In This Together

* * *

Lilly was seated inside her bosses office. In the chair to her left sat her partner. She glanced over at him. He was facing forward, his expression a mask she couldn't read, and this bothered her more than the phone call he had just received. She had always been able to read her partner and to determine what was going on behind his expression. But, today, with a phone call, that had all changed. It was as though a switch inside the detective had been flipped. Lilly sighed and faced forward in her chair. She only hoped that switch could be flipped back.

"All right," Stillman said. He was seated behind his desk, phone pressed to his ear, talking with either Jeffries or Vera. Lilly wasn't sure which one but they had both been called back into work in order to go check on Henry Russet. They'd been given his home address and the place he worked. "Keep me informed." Stillman hung up the phone and looked over at his two detectives. Lilly felt herself shrink beneath his gaze. She had seen it before. It was a little anger and a lot of disappointment.

"Henry Russet is dead," the lieutenant informed them and for a second Lilly's eyes closed against these words. They'd known it was coming but it was still hard to take. Another life snuffed out by an invisible predator and, this time, Scotty would be sitting in the middle of the investigation as a possible suspect because he'd been video taped assaulting their latest victim. "His throat was slit and there's evidence he was beaten before time of death."

Lilly glanced over at her partner who was still staring ahead blankly. He wasn't looking at their boss, she realized, but some other indistinct point behind him. She looked back over at Stillman. She wondered if she should tell him the truth about the picture they'd found. So far, they'd only told him about the camera. There was no evidence left to be found on that picture, if it had ever been there, and so they'd mutually agreed to keep it out of their story. But, now, she was doubting that decision and it wasn't for the first time.

"What the hell were you two thinking?" the question was a demand and a statement of disappointment at the same time. Lilly looked down at her hands and began to fidget with them uncertainly. There really was no way out of this. They'd broken the law and his trust. "You interrogated that man without going through me first. You discovered evidence in a murder investigation that you didn't tell me about. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"It was an oversight," Scotty suddenly said and Lilly glanced over to see he was now focusing on their boss. An oversight, she almost laughed herself at this lie. "I meant to go to you after..."

"That's crap," Stillman spat. "Don't insult my intelligence, Scotty. Now, tell me, is there anything else I need to know?"

"I may have threatened him a little," Scotty said and Lilly looked back at her hands.

"Threatened him how?" demanded their boss.

"I got a little physical with the guy," Scotty said, his tone leaving no hint of regret at what his words had just revealed. "It'll be on the tape."

"Tape?" asked Stillman.

"Surveillance tape," stated Scotty, matter-of-factly. Lilly looked over at him and wondered if he even realized how much trouble they were in. "In the reception room there was a surveillance camera. I'm sure it recorded everything for your viewing pleasure."

"Scotty," the name was a breath of shock on her lips. Scotty didn't even glance her way. He remained facing forward and unreadable.

"What the hell has gotten into you, detective?" Stillman asked, his voice was low and deathly serious. Lilly looked back at their boss and wondered if anything would be able to dig them out of this grave they'd dug. "Both of you should be fired..."

"You fire us," Scotty began, interrupting their bosses words, "or even just fire _me_ then this guy will walk right up to Lilly. She'll be defenseless and you'll have made it that way."

"_Me_?" Stillman asked. "The way I'm seeing it, you two have done nothing but put this investigation at risk and her life in jeopardy." Lilly saw it coming before it happened. Scotty finally snapped. He jumped from his chair and lunged at their boss and Lilly was grateful there was a desk in the way. Lilly jumped out of her own chair and had pushed Scotty back before any harm could result.

"Scotty," she warned, one hand against his chest to prevent him from pushing forward. "What the hell, Scotty?" He wasn't paying her any attention. His eyes were glaring at Stillman and his body was so tense she feared he may actually attack again.

"Don't you ever accuse me of doing anything to put her life at risk because you have no idea just what I'd do to keep her safe." Scotty glanced at Lilly and then stepped away. He ran a hand through his hair, his breath coming deep, and walked over to the window to look at the darkness outside. Lilly looked back at their lieutenant, who seemed astonished at what had just taken place. They'd both seen Scotty angry before but they'd never seen him like this. Stillman looked over at her, as though in her he might find the answers he was looking for, but she was like him and had never before met this Scotty Valens.

Stillman then looked over at Scotty's back. "I'm going to take into account that you're under a lot of stress right now and a lot of pressure," he said and he looked at Lilly, "and you as well. I'm placing you both on desk duty."

Scotty scoffed at this. "Which is pretty much where we already are," he pointed out, turning back to face the room.

"What you should be saying," Stillman pointed out, "is thank you for not firing me. And you're welcome. Now get the hell out of my office." Scotty didn't hesitate as he headed for the door to leave.

"Once last thing," Stillman said as Lilly headed after her partner, "don't think for a second that this is all on your shoulders. We're all in this together. You mess with one of us and you're messing with all of us."

* * *

Scotty was back at his desk packing up the remaining files that were spread out atop it from his reading of them earlier. Lilly walked up to him and spoke his name softly, almost tentatively, but he ignored her and began piling the files on top of each other. He sat them back down, one by one, atop the previous one, with more force than was at all necessary. He was angry, he was beyond angry, and he knew exactly why but he wasn't ready to face it.

"Scotty," she tried again and he walked away from her.

"We're leaving," it was a demand as he headed for the exit of the bullpen. She didn't move and he heard her take in a deep breath. He stopped and turned to face her. She was looking at him, still standing by his desk, and she seemed angry herself. "Get what you need. We're leaving," he almost cringed at his own words. He chose to ignore them and walked out of the bullpen instead. He began turning the combination lock to retrieve his gun from its locker.

"Do you blame me for this?" Lilly suddenly said, standing right beside him. He looked over at her as she was turning the combination for her own locker. If just slightly, his anger simmered down.

"No," he spoke more gently this time. She pulled her gun out and placed it at her hip, strapping it into her holster. He did the same with his own.

"Then don't treat me like this," she said, turning to face him straight on. He was amazed, not for the first time, at how this woman could stand so strong and unmoving in the most desperate and worse of times. "Because I'm not some girl you can just order around and I don't need you. I can take care of myself. I don't need you to protect me. If you're looking for that in a girl then find another girl." She began walking passed him but he stopped her gently with a hand to her arm.

"I'm sorry," he said truthfully. He glanced behind her and saw that the security guard, in the glass enclosed room facing them, was busy going through a magazine. "I just... He's right, Lilly."

"About what?" she asked.

"I screwed up," he admitted softly, "and I put you in more danger while I did it. We should have told Boss about that damn camera. I..."

"You were trying to protect me," she continued for him when his words went nowhere. "You were trying to protect _us_. You're not alone in this. I agreed not to tell Stillman. I went along with the lie."

He shook his head. "But it's still on me," he told her and she looked at him curiously.

"Why is that, exactly?" she asked. He ran a hand along a strand of her hair and followed the movement with his eyes. It was a far more intimate gesture than they'd ever shared at work, in front of possible prying eyes, but Lilly didn't step away and his eyes soon reconnected with hers.

"Rather you can take care of yourself or not, I'm supposed to protect you and not make things worse." He dropped his hand and walked for the elevators. She followed after him and gently bumped into his side as she came to a stop beside him and in front of the elevator doors. He pushed the red button and waited.

"I lied," she said suddenly and he looked over at her.

"What?" he asked.

She looked at him with a small smile that hinted, not at humor, but at something else. Something much more deep. "I do need you."


	12. Best Kept Secret

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** I didn't expect to get back to you so soon but I felt real bad for the distance between my last two posts so... here's the next chapter! I hope you likes it!

**Chapter Twelve:** Best Kept Secret

* * *

Outside PPD Lilly and Scotty were walking back to their car. They had just left their lieutenant behind in the office to deal with the mess they'd made and neither of them were feeling particularly good about it. On top of that, they were both hungry and tired and exhausted in just about every way a person could be exhausted in.

"I don't like lying to him," Lilly found herself saying as they walked beneath a street light shinning on the parking lot.

"What?" Scotty asked from beside her.

"Boss," she answered, "I don't like lying to him and we could be risking a murder investigation for this lie... More than we already have."

"We've been lying to him for a year," Scotty pointed out, "and we haven't risked anything because telling him about a picture of us, on your couch, doing something, we're not supposed to be doing, ain't relevant to these murders."

"That's what we thought about the camera," she said and Scotty suddenly stopped her walking with a hand at her arm and turned her to face him. She sighed. "How many times has the smallest, most insignificant thing, helped us solve a crime?"

"It wouldn't have helped," he insisted firmly.

"You don't really know that," she insisted back. "I just think we need to come clean. We need to tell Stillman about our relationship."

He gave her a patronizing smile as he looked at her like she were crazy. "Are you serious, Lilly? He'd have our jobs? We're not actually supposed to be sleeping together." Those words hurt and she knew, that he knew, they would. Sleeping together. It sounded so cold and without any emotion. It sounded like two people seeking satisfaction out of each other before going their separate ways. It sounded like anything but how she viewed their relationship.

"Maybe we won't be anymore," she shot back and was satisfied with the hint of hurt she saw flash in his eyes. "If we tell him it's over then he won't transfer either of us. Maybe he'd be pissed but he'd let it go."

"Right," Scotty said and nodded his head skeptically, "so we tell him we were involved, but we're not anymore, and then we continue to see each other behind his back?" He let his words hang for a moment and laughed. "I don't think that'll work."

Lilly just looked at him. She knew that their ability to communicate so well without words, and with only a look, would get her meaning through to him. And she saw the moment it did. She saw the moment his features flashed with the realization of what she'd just suggested without so much as the courtesy of a word.

"Lilly," it was a simple whisper with so much meaning. She pushed passed him and walked the rest of the way to their state owned vehicle. She looked back at him and found he hadn't moved a step. He was still standing, in the dark, like a lost child, right where she'd left him and her heart ached for him. She hadn't wanted to hurt him or to hurt them and she'd only hurt herself in the process. I do need you, the words she had spoken only moments earlier echoed back to her and she knew how true they were. She needed him more than she'd ever needed anyone but she was Lilly Rush. Independent. Strong. She didn't need anyone. At least, that was the facade she put up but she knew that he, alone, could see right through it.

Suddenly, he started walking towards her and behind his movements, in the way he was walking, in his very demeanor, a certain determination existed. She couldn't quite read it till he was standing right in front of her and, almost simultaneously to his taking that last step to be in front of her, his hands had reached to either side of her face and his lips were pressed to hers. It was a kiss with meaning and determination of its own. It was deep and passionate and gentle all at the same time. It made butterflies form in her stomach and it made her fall in love with him all over again.

When he finally pulled back they were both breathless. Her arms were wrapped around his neck. His hands had trailed down her body to settle at her waist, pulling her as close in to himself as he could. He rested his forehead to hers and, for a moment, they stayed like that. In the darkened parking lot of Philly PD they stood, catching their breath, and risking their best kept secret.

"This ain't over," Scotty finally spoke, his words soft. "We can't let him do this to us. If you want this to end because _you_ want this to end, then tell me. If you're not in love with me anymore, then tell me." He pulled back then and looked her in the eyes. "And I'll let you go. But if this is because of some maniac out there stalking you. I'm not letting you go."

"Scotty..." she began but he wouldn't let her finish.

"Do you still love me?" he asked insistently and she smiled, knowing he didn't need to ask.

"Yes," she answered, "I love you." They were words they had confessed before but didn't share very often. He reached up a hand and traced a path along her jaw line.

"And I love you," he said softly, "and that's all that really matters. This isn't just some fling for me, Lilly. I don't really plan on a future without you. I'd ask you to marry me if I thought for a second you'd say yes." Lilly smiled at this. They had joked about getting married before. Both of them saying how absurd it would be, and wonderful at the same time.

Two people walked by and the detectives had to pull away from each other. Lilly didn't recognize either of them and they didn't so much as glance in their direction as they passed by but it was a reminder, nonetheless, of their current predicament. Lilly looked down at the ground between them and sighed.

"Maybe I don't want this to be a secret anymore, Scotty," she said and then looked back up at him. "Maybe I want you to ask me that question." His face turned into a wide grin and Lilly found it was contagious as she, too, began to smile. "Ridiculous right, us getting married?"

"Marry me," he said suddenly, closing the small gap that was between them. The smile faded from her face instantly. He was serious.

"Scotty..." her words ended because she didn't know what else to say. Had _she_ been serious?

"Marry me," he repeated. "I don't care about this job. I'll give it up for you. I'd give up anything for you. I just," he shrugged, "want you." A tear fell down her cheek and Lilly wiped it away. She bit her bottom lip. She didn't quite know what to say. She certainly had never expected this man to propose to her.

"Do you want me to get down on one knee?" he asked and she laughed as another tear made a trail down her cheek.

"Please don't," she said, shaking her head for emphasis, and they both laughed. He took her into his arms and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back. "Weren't you just the one saying we couldn't tell Stillman about us? Were you planing some kind of secret marriage or something?" she asked this only half-jokingly.

He pulled away enough to look her in the eyes. "Baby, I would love to shout this secret to the world if there weren't an insane killer out there stalking you." He placed a hand at the side of her face and she was certain, in the dim moonlight, she could see unshed tears in his own eyes. "I can't lose you. I've been there. I can't do it again."

"Yes," she suddenly said, almost before she even knew she was going to say it. He smiled at her and ran his thumb gently over her cheek, wiping away a tear as it fell.

"Yes?" he asked, the question mirrored in his eyes, and she nodded with a smile.

"Yes," she repeated. "We find this guy and then we move on with our lives. No more secrets."

"No more secrets," agreed Scotty and then he leaned in and was kissing her like a man who had just gotten engaged. But, then, he had.

* * *

It was close to midnight when they returned to Lilly's house that night. She glanced to the street and saw that there was no car, in either direction, that didn't belong. She knew the detail on her house hadn't been pulled and wondered why it wasn't there. But, supposed, he was simply late.

"There's no car here," she pointed out to Scotty.

He glanced over to the street and shrugged. "Probably just hasn't gotten here yet," he said aloud what she had already assumed to herself.

She followed him up her front pathway as he reached into a pocket and pulled out his keys. Lilly was relieved at the absence of prying eyes watching them from inside a dark car. The truth be told it only ever served to make her more nervous. As they reached her door Scotty reached out with his keys to unlock it but his hand suddenly froze in mid-motion. Lilly looked at him curiously, as she stepped up beside him, then down to the door. She saw, at once, what it was he had seen. Her front door, always shut and locked by one of them before leaving the house, was standing slightly ajar.

* * *

**End Note:** I think this is one of my favorite chapters thus far and the "engagement" part wasn't even planned. It sort of just happened but it fit and I liked it so I kept going with it. As for the ending, sorry about that... I hope you liked the rest of it! Thanks to everyone for reading and, most especially, to everyone who is reviewing! I love your reviews! Thank you! =D


	13. Soothe This Moment

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** Please don't hate me... :(

**Chapter Thirteen:** Soothe This Moment

* * *

Scotty looked over at Lilly and put a finger to his lips. She nodded her silent understanding as he reached for the gun at his side. She reached for her own and unsnapped it from its holster. With both their guns at the ready, Scotty reached out and slowly pushed the door in the rest of the way. With gun raised, he stepped inside. Lilly stepped in behind him.

Streetlight filtered in through the front windows of her living room, the curtains on them had been left open that morning, and it provided them with much needed light since neither of them wanted to risk turning on a lamp. Nothing in the room seemed out of place. It was all as it had been when they'd left for work that morning.

"Stay close," Scotty spoke in a low whisper as he headed deeper into the house. They had taken only a few steps when they both froze at an unidentified noise. Lilly was trying to determine where the sound had come from when one of her cats suddenly jumped out in front of them. Both detective's let out a breath as the small white creature walked up to Lilly and, with a faint meow, rubbed against her legs. Lilly ignored the animal as she followed her partner towards the kitchen.

At the division where her kitchen started and her living room ended Scotty suddenly stopped moving. His entire body tensed as he lowered his gun and turned to face her. She looked at him questioningly. "Lilly..." he began softly but his words seemed to stick in his throat.

"What is it?" she asked and then started to move passed him. He grabbed her by the arm to hold her back.

"You don't need..." she didn't let him finish the sentence as she struggled to get passed him.

"Scotty, what..." her words trailed when she saw the first glint of blood in the moonlight behind her partner. She followed the spot of blood to the puddle of much more blood and to the animal it belonged to.

"Lilly," Scotty said gently and the hand on her arm became more consoling than abrasive.

"Olivia," she whispered the name as tears sprang to her eyes. She felt herself grow weak and slipped to the floor beneath her. Her gun fell from a shaky hand and clattered to the hardwood. As her tears fell fuller the image of her beloved cat, laying lifeless and bloody, in the middle of her kitchen floor slowly blurred away.

She was aware of Scotty wrapping her in his arms. She neither leaned into his embrace nor pushed him away. She simply sat there, tears falling, staring at a spot on her kitchen floor that she could no longer see. He pulled her head gently to his shoulder and she finally relaxed into him. "I'm so sorry," he whispered softly but then never spoke another word. There was, she knew, no words to be spoken. Nothing could soothe this moment.

At some point, perhaps out of loneliness or despair of her own, a three legged cat curled up on the floor beside the two detectives and laid there, awake, but unmoving.

* * *

"There's not even a mark on this knob," Emily, the woman from CSU that had been called in that night, spoke as she kneeled beside Lilly's opened door examining the handle. "Or the deadbolt."

"But that is how he got in?" Stillman asked. He was standing beside the young CSI and Scotty was only a few feet away from them both.

She shrugged and looked up at the lieutenant. "I can't tell you that. There's no mark. No sign it was ever picked."

"But this door was open when we got back," Scotty insisted.

She looked over at him. "And it might have been picked. I'm not saying it wasn't. I'm saying there's no way to prove it; there seldom is when someone who knows what they're doing picks a lock and this guy obviously knew what he was doing. I can take the knob off and bring it back to the lab but... I doubt anything will come of it."

Scotty ran a hand through his hair and paced a few steps away from them and then paced back and then started the trek again. "So, we know the guy knows how to pick a lock? That's great. Very useful."

"Scotty," Stillman warned and Scotty stopped pacing and brought both hands to his hips. Stillman looked back to Emily. "Can you tell us anything at all?"

"No," she answered and shook her head regretfully. "It's not really that hard to pick a lock. It's harder to pick a dead bolt but still not impossible. I'd say your guy was skilled at this but..."

"Okay," Stillman responded and Emily began to stand back up, "thanks."

"Do you want me to take the handle back to the lab?" she asked, gesturing at the door with a wave of her hand.

Stillman shook his head. "No. Not many hardware stores open at this hour and I'm not leaving this house without a knob on the front door."

"Like it did any good," Scotty mumbled to himself but was loud enough that he knew he'd be heard.

"They make better locks than that," Emily suddenly said. "One's that are harder to pick. They cost more but..." the CSI shrugged. "I'd suggest she get one of those." Scotty just looked at her like she were crazy and she shrugged again, knelt back down, and began gathering up her tools and placing them inside a hardback case. Scotty shook his head in indignation just as Miller walked in from the kitchen. She was followed by the second CSI that had come over that night.

"You find anything, Miller?" asked Stillman and the female detective shook her head disappointingly.

"Sorry," she started. "I took some pictures," she held up a camera in her hands, "and Michael, here, checked for prints but," she reached into her pocked, "we did find this." She handed Stillman a small vial. It looked like an evidence vial and Stillman examined it closely and Scotty stepped over to examine it as well. Inside, he spotted a small dark hair.

"What the hell does it mean?" Stillman mumbled beneath his breath and Scotty might not have heard the words except that he was standing so close.

"This is what was found in that cop's car?" Scotty said and his boss looked over at him.

"How do you know that?" he asked and Scotty opened his mouth to answer, then shut it. Apparently, he thought, Boss really hadn't wanted them to know.

"Was it top secret or something, Boss?" he asked simply and shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal. Stillman sighed and looked back at the object, then handed it over to Michael.

"Get this back to the lab," the lieutenant said, "and have it ran against the other two."

"Two?" asked Scotty.

"Two," Stillman nodded. "One in the cop's car and one in the clenched fist of Henry Russet."

"DNA?" Scotty asked and Stillman shook his head.

"Nothing yet," he answered. "They're still running it."

"You'd think they could rush it with a cop involved," Miller commented dryly.

"I think this is them rushing it, Miller," Stillman said and then turned to the CSI's. "If you two are finished up here, you're okay to leave. There's no need for any of us to stay here longer than necessary. I'm sure Lil would like some privacy back in her life."

"Where is Lil?" asked Miller, glancing around the room as the two CSI's headed towards the door.

"Upstairs," Scotty answered her question, "packing some things. She's gonna stay with me till... she's ready to come home." Miller nodded her understanding and headed towards the door herself. With a quick farewell she, and the CSI's, were both gone. Scotty headed for the kitchen with Stillman in tow. He walked over to a cabinet, that he knew contained garbage bags, and pulled one out.

"I'll have the cop outside head over there," Stillman said and Scotty nodded his head. He went to the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink and pulled out a pair of disposable, latex gloves. "What are you doing?" Scotty looked over at his lieutenant and blinked. He hadn't really realized what he was doing but he knew what needed doing.

"I told Lil I'd take care of the cat for her. She's not very sentimental about funerals so... She just wants Olivia buried beneath this tree in her back yard. Stupid cat used to climb it all the time." Scotty shook his head at the memory. "I don't know how many times I had to pull her down from..." Scotty froze, realizing what he'd just said. He looked over at Stillman who was looking at him.

"I mean..." he tried and failed. Crap, he thought. "Lil would call me for help. You know? Better than the fire department."

Stillman nodded. "Yeah, sure," he didn't sound convinced but Scotty let the issue drop. Anything more and he'd only bury himself deeper. He knelt down beside the lifeless cat and looked at it sadly. Lilly was going to miss her deeply. Truth be told, he thought, he'd probably miss her too. He pulled on the latex gloves and, gently, began placing the cat into the bag he was holding.

"Scotty," Stillman began and Scotty glanced up as he sealed the bag shut, "if it weren't for that vial connecting the two bodies, you'd be under a lot more scrutiny right now. In fact, you still may be."

"I screwed up," Scotty said as he stood back up. "I get it."

"No, Scotty," began Stillman firmly, "this was more than a screw up. We have footage of you following Russet into that office right before his time of death and right after you attacked him. You come out of that room but he never does."

Scotty looked at his boss skeptically. "But I got that phone call hours after all that happened and I heard Russet screaming into the phone. He couldn't have already been dead."

"What you heard," began his boss, "was likely a recording, or something, because Russet died shortly after you left him in that office."

Scotty shook his head in amazement that anyone could be blaming him for that murder, least of all people he knew and worked with everyday. "I had no reason to kill that man. He wasn't even involved in this. He was just some schmuck who got caught in the middle of it all. You gonna blame me for the cops murder next?" Stillman only looked at him and for a moment Scotty couldn't find words. "Are you serious? I was with my partner that night. I have an alibi."

"For the entire night?" asked Stillman. "Because you two did go to sleep at some point, right? You were apart then." Scotty had to look away as he remembered that night. He knew that one simple truth and he'd be off the hook for both these murders.

"I didn't kill that cop," he insisted firmly and looked back over to Stillman. "I didn't kill either of them. I didn't make up those phone calls. I sure as hell never threatened my own partner and I never broke into her house and killed her cat! I didn't do this!"

"And I don't think you did, Scotty," the lieutenant informed him. "Not for a second do I think you'd of done any of those things and, lucky for you, the lead detectives on this case don't think that either. I am just letting you know how this could all end up looking despite our efforts to keep you out of it."

Scotty sighed and looked down at the bag in his hand. Its weight was becoming overbearing, even though it weighed close to nothing. "I'd never hurt her," he said softly and turned to the back door that lead off the kitchen.

"If you need a break, Scotty..." Stillman began but let his words trail away meaningfully and Scotty got their meaning right away. He looked back at his lieutenant, one hand on the doorknob, but said nothing. "This is a lot for two people to deal with. You don't have to be each others crutches. I can find someplace else for Lil to stay for a while. She could stay with me..."

"No," Scotty finally interrupted him. "I don't need a break from my partner. We're fine. I'm fine and I'll take care of her."

Stillman sighed. "I'll see you two on Monday then."

* * *

**End Note:** I hope this is good enough to be posted. I hope I haven't written too many holes in the story. I'm tired. I've not been sleeping well, as I seldom do, so I can only reread and go through things and hope I'm not missing anything. If I am, um, sorry... ;)  
**PS:** At this moment I only have four other finished chapters for Stalked and, at least most, of them need revising because, as I said before, that engagement scene wasn't planned. So, now I gotta go write more Scotty/Lilly scenes that need to happen because they had to go and get themselves engaged... ;) Anyhow... ETA on the next chapter being posted is beyond, even, me but I will try and hurry. I promise.


	14. Anything But Ordinary

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** I took the liberty of naming Lilly's white cat, Lucy. I'm sorry about any OOC but I find as I delve deeper into this relationship of theirs its really hard to know if I'm off character because, well, I have nothing to refer to. They've never been this close on the show. :(

**Chapter Fourteen:** Anything But Ordinary

* * *

The cat meowed, rubbed up against his legs and made sure to get in the way of the food dish as Scotty tried to pour kibble into it. He sighed and picked up the dish. He sat it on the counter to pour the food in. Lucy, almost immediately, jumped up on the counter to get in the way again but Scotty was quicker and his task was finally complete. He laughed as he took the bowl away, from a disappointed cat, again and placed it back on the floor. Lucy gratefully jumped off the counter and began munching away. Scotty stroked the animal for a moment before heading back into his living room. His cell rang and he instantly tensed up. He reached for the phone, resting on his coffee table, and was relieved to find it was only his lieutenant.

"Valens," the detective greeted. At least, it was as good a greeting as one was likely to get out of him. Even his own mother was greeted with it, most the time.

"Hey, Scotty," Stillman spoke to him through the phone. "How's Lilly?"

"She's sleeping," Scotty responded firmly, more firmly than he'd meant to be, and offered no more information. He knew it wasn't very logical but he simply didn't want anyone asking about her. He wanted her hidden from the world where no one would be able to hurt her again.

"That's good," the lieutenant continued. "Listen, we were going through the surveillance tapes at Household Repairs again and discovered one was missing. Would you know anything about that?"

Scotty rubbed the bridge of his nose and sat down on the couch. "It's in my desk," be spoke, matter-of-factly. "Left side, bottom drawer."

"Why is that?" Stillman asked and the irritation in his voice clear.

"The guy that wanted the camera put in Lil's house is on it. Time-stamp two thirteen. He never shows his face though."

"All right," Stillman said behind a sigh. "We've also spoken with the hot dog vendor across from PPD."

"Hot dog vendor?"

"You told us he'd mentioned standing in line with Lil at the hot dog vendor across from PPD."

Scotty nodded his head, remembering, and then realized Stillman couldn't see him. "Yeah, I remember."

"It's not much," Stillman spoke, "but it's something and the vendor did reported a few suspicious characters hanging around recently. Miller's checking it out now."

"She won't find anything," Scotty stated simply. "This guy wouldn't come across as suspicious, unless he wanted to."

"It's all we got right now," Stillman pointed out. "Have you come up with anyone who might have threatened you in the past that could be doing this?

Scotty sighed because he hadn't. "No," he said softly. "Anyone who would have gone this far is either dead or in prison. I just... I don't know, Boss."

"Let me know if you do come up with anything. Anyone. We'll check it out. Otherwise, I still don't expect to see either of you till Monday. Keep your doors and windows locked." Like it would do any good, Scotty thought, but agreed and disconnected the conversation. He headed for the bedroom to check on Lilly.

She was awake, laying on her side, with one arm beneath a pillow and the other arm draped over that same pillow. She was staring, unblinking, at some indistinct point on the wall. Scotty walked over to the bed and crouched down beside it. He could see at once that she'd been crying and cursed himself silently for not having checked in on her sooner. He wiped a stray lock of hair away from her forehead and she blinked over at him.

"Hey," he spoke gently. "How're you feeling?"

"Who was on the phone?" she asked, ignoring his concern for her. He wasn't surprised. They had crossed so many barriers since their relationship had started but in times of personal tragedy she always pulled away. Like she had the night before when she'd nearly ended their relationship. Now, thought, they were engaged and somehow, he swore to himself, he'd get passed this last barrier and gain her complete, unconditional, trust.

"Stillman," Scotty informed and sat down on the floor beside the bed. He leaned his head back against the mattress. "He wanted the surveillance tape I'd taken from Household Repairs and to let me know they were following a few leads."

"What leads?" she asked.

"The hot dog vendor, across from PPD, said he'd seen a few suspicious characters around lately. Miller's following it up."

"She won't find anything," Lilly, unknowingly, repeated her partner's earlier words. "This guy would blend in with everyone around him. He's not gonna stand out."

"Yeah," he said, uninterested, and turned his head to look at Lilly. "You okay?"

Lilly ran a hand through his hair, watching the movement as she did so and avoiding eye contact with him. "I think so," she answered softly. He sighed and kneeled beside the bed. He placed a hand to the back of her head and leaned in closer to her. A tear ran down her cheek.

"Lilly," he began softly, "you can talk to me... It's _me_."

"How am I supposed to feel?" her words were chocked with tears. "Two men are dead. My cat's dead. There's a guy out there stalking me, threatening you. This is... How am I supposed to feel?"

Scotty felt defeated. She wasn't hiding from him, she was just lost. He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. She responded by placing a hand to the back of his head and deepening their kiss. Soon the kiss turned into an uncontrolled need and Scotty was climbing into the bed beside her. Their clothing was quickly lost as they fell into a familiar dance of comfort and love.

* * *

"Scotty?" Lilly's head was resting on his bare chest; her hand was tracing invisible zigzags along it. Scotty's breathing was relaxed as he ran his own hand gently through the blond strands of her hair.

"Hm?" he mumbled softly.

"Do you think it'll be the same between us? You know, if we actually got married..."

"_If_." Scotty sat up slightly and looked down at her. "It's my understanding that we _are_ getting married."

She smiled up at him. "I've never even met your family, Scotty." He rolled onto his side and she laid on her back, head resting against the pillows beneath her.

"We'll fix that _before_ we're married." She smiled again but didn't respond. "It ain't gonna be the same. Everything will be different but it'll be wonderful. We're great together. Marriage ain't gonna change that."

"That's not what I mean," she began softly. "We won't be working together anymore and with our jobs, with who we are, we'll hardly see each other."

"I can give up the whole workaholic thing to come home to you every night. I mean, why the hell do you think I work so much now?" He looked at her with a grin and she laughed in return. He ran a hand along her arm and she shivered slightly beneath his touch. "The question is, can you?" he added and her smile faded.

"I don't know," she answered honestly and at least, he thought, she was being honest.

"I'll take what I can get," he responded with his own honesty.

"But you deserve everything. White picket fence, the dog... A wife that comes home." He leaned over and kissed her on the lips gently, then pulled back with a hand at the side of her face.

"I never expected that fence or the dog or... I don't expect those things. I want you, just you, as you are, and I can die happy." Lilly began to fidget with the sheet that was draped over the two of them and Scotty's heart began to worry. "You ain't backing out on me, are you?"

"I don't want to," she whispered softly. "I just..."

"What?" he encouraged and she looked back up at him.

"I keep thinking I should have said no." Scotty tried to ignore his heart breaking and remember that she'd just said she didn't want to back out.

"Why?"

"Because I keep wondering if it was a spare of the moment proposal and if you didn't really mean it and..." Scotty sighed in relief as a smile spread across his face. "What's so funny?" He leaned in and kissed her again, then reached to his nightstand.

"I got something for you." She looked at him confused but an understanding crossed her features the second she saw the velvet box. "Now, I know you ain't exactly the traditional type of gal and we both know what an engagement ring really means... so, I'm hoping you'll forgive me." She laughed at his words and he flipped the box open. Her laughter, and every trace of her smile, faded when she saw the ring inside.

A blue diamond, round in shape, protruded out at the center of the ring. Inset on either side of the blue diamond were three white diamonds. The band of the ring was platinum, instead of the traditional gold. Scotty had picket this ring out for its unique design because Lilly Rush was anything but ordinary.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. "It's perfect." Scotty smiled triumphantly and removed the ring from its box. "Scotty, when did you have time to get this?"

"That's sorta the point, Lilly," he answered softly as he fitted the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit but that came from him taking note of her ring size a long time ago. "I brought this ring three weeks ago. So, you see, there was nothing last minute about that proposal. Just... nontraditional."

Lilly laughed. "Traditional's never really fit us."

"No," Scotty agreed as he leaned in to kissed her again. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she whispered beneath his lips and all else was forgotten. At least, for the moment.

* * *

**End Note:** This was almost a complete rewrite from what I originally had in this chapter. LOL! I need to stop changing things so much in the middle of my story because it only ever causes more work for me later. ;)  
I'm sorry this didn't get posted sooner. I'd meant for it to go up by this last weekend but after rereading through it, I discovered something... I don't like it. So, it was either I spend another week, or more, reworking it or I post it as is and hope for the best. I decided to post as is because I really did not feel like writing it yet again. I hope you liked it and that it was good enough. I hope to have the next part up soon but have gotten very distracted with life and other things going on in that life so, we shall see. Thanks for reading... and drop a note to let me know how awful this is! ;)


	15. The Window

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** Just a heads up that in the next few chapters things will begin to pick up as this story is coming to conclusion soon. Thanks for reading! =)

**Chapter Fifteen:** The Window

* * *

Scotty was in the shower when his cell phone rang. Lilly glanced down at it. Unknown Caller. She considered ignoring it. She knew who it was and she wasn't so sure she could handle the verbal damage right then and with Scotty not around. Then, she reminded herself, she was a cop and this is what she did. She had been apart of many interrogations and she could handle a simple phone call; even if it wasn't so simple. She picked up the phone, flipped it open and pressed it to her ear.

"Scotty Valens' phone," she spoke and hoped it really wasn't whom she thought it was but her hopes were quickly shot down.

"Oh, my," came the voice. It was deep, dark and clearly pronounced. "The girlfriend. What do I say? This I was not expecting. I'm so giddy with anticipation."

"You know who I am," began Lilly, "but what do I call you?"

"Is your boyfriend there?" he ignored her question completely.

Lilly sat down on the couch behind her. "You know he is," she sighed.

"I don't see him there."

The detective's eyes immediately flew to every window in site of herself. She saw nothing unusual. She stood and walked over to the nearest of the windows. Outside of it a fire-escape ran down the side of the building. She glanced down the fire-escape, then up it, but spotted nothing.

"Are you watching us?" she asked the caller.

"At the moment I'm just watching you, trying to find me, but you're at the wrong window." A chill ran through her at these words and Lilly glanced back towards the bedroom. Her gun was in there. She stepped away from the window and headed for the bedroom.

"I called to apologize," continued the voice.

"Apologize?" she asked, she'd just reached the hallway.

"For the cat," he continued again. "I had meant to kill the other one but the little sucker got away from me. I couldn't believe how fast a three-legged animal could run. And I had so wanted it to be him."

"Why's that?" Lilly had just stepped up to the bedroom. She could still hear the shower running as she walked inside.

"Blood on white. There are few things more beautiful."

Lilly grabbed her gun from its resting place atop the nightstand. She glanced to the bathroom door and thought about alerting Scotty. She knew she should but she didn't want to scare the man on the phone into hanging up.

"Are you still there?" the caller asked and her decision was made.

"You're sick," she informed him as she walked back out of the bedroom. "We're gonna find you, you know?"

"Not if I find you first," the caller taunted and then he laughed. "Oh, that's right, I already know where you are."

Lilly was back in the living room. One hand held the phone and the other held a firm grip on her gun. She glanced around the room, through all the windows, over to the opened dinning area. She still saw nothing that stood out. Not a single shadow, not a movement, that she couldn't place.

"That's not necessary," the voice spoke.

"What's not necessary?"

"The gun." Lilly froze as he spoke. "Now, tell your boyfriend that he should watch you better and he should thank me for not killing you... this time."

"Where the hell are you?" Lilly demanded. She had never liked losing complete control over a conversation, it never lead to anything good, and it was clear she'd lost control over this one.

"The first window, Lilly."

* * *

Scotty finished running the towel through his hair and tossed it hastily to the floor. He was dressed from the waist down and still slightly damp over much of his body. He glanced to the woman sitting on top his bed. She was seated, cross-legged, at the end of the bed, facing towards himself, and absently petting the cat that was curled up on her lap.

"You never saw his face?" asked Scotty and she shook her head. Her eyes seemed distanced and Scotty knelt down in front of her. "Lilly?"

She blinked and focused on him. She shook her head again. "No," she answered him verbally, "I didn't see his face. He was dressed in dark clothing and... he'd already turned away when I looked over and was heading down the fire-escape. It happened very quickly. I just... I wasn't expecting it."

"It's okay, Lilly," he assured her softly and wiped a strand of hair from her eyes. He was worried about her. This had effected her more than he'd of expected it would.

"Maybe I should have gone after him."

"That's the last thing you should have done." Scotty stood back up and headed for the cordless phone on his nightstand. "I'm gonna call Stillman. Get CSU over here."

"No," Lilly whispered and he glanced over at her from where he'd began dialing numbers into his phone. The cat had scurried away and was no longer in her lap and Lilly was now tracing an invisible line along the blanket beneath her.

"No?" he asked, certain he'd heard her wrong.

"They're not gonna find anything, Scotty," she told him but never looked up from the blanket. "We'd just be pulling people into work on a Saturday and it would be useless. This guy is a shadow."

"He could have killed you, Lilly. He was standing right outside the apartment."

"And what's CSU supposed to do about it?" she asked, finally meeting his gaze again.

"Maybe he left something... a fingerprint." Even to himself, the suggestion sounded stupid.

"A fingerprint, Scotty? On a fire-escape?" Her expression read her disbelief. Scotty sighed and looked back down at the phone still in his hands.

"I'm in enough trouble." He began dialing numbers into the phone once more. "I'm calling. Stillman can make the decision of rather CSU is warranted."

"He had dark hair," Lilly said absently and suddenly. He looked back at her. "That's all I saw. Dark clothes and dark hair."

* * *

CSU found nothing, as was fully expected, and an hour later they, along with Lieutenant Stillman, were leaving Scotty's apartment with as little knowledge as they'd had getting to it. Scotty walked into his living room and sat down beside his fiance. She was messing with the chain around her neck and the engagement ring that was attached to it. Since she couldn't wear it on her finger, yet, she'd placed it around her neck.

"You mad at me?" he asked and she blinked over at him. She smiled and it was a reassuring smile. He took in a breath, glad that she wasn't angry with him.

"No," she answered aloud. "You were right. They needed to be called. I don't want to get you into anymore trouble."

"_You_ never got me into any trouble," he assured her and leaned back into the couch. "I made those bad decisions all by myself."

Lilly glanced over at him and then leaned into him and rested her head against his shoulder. He responded by wrapping his arms around her and placing a gentle kiss to her forehead. She was safe, he thought, and for the time being this was a blessing he could no longer take for granted.

"I'm scared," she suddenly admitted, her words soft. "I've never had so much to lose and suddenly I don't want to lose any of it and I find myself scared of something I've never feared before." Scotty closed his eyes as he ran a gentle hand down her arm. He was grateful at knowing how much he truly meant to her and sad at knowing that this fearless woman had been pushed to the point of fear.

"I ain't gonna let him kill you," Scotty said softly. "He's not gonna get to you."

She looked up at him and a single tear trailed down her face. He wiped it away. "He almost just did."

Scotty shook his head. "That won't happen again."

She smiled sadly at him and placed her head back down on his shoulder. He ran a hand through her hair as his heart broke because he knew, she didn't believe him. If she couldn't believe him, the one person he knew she trusted over anyone, then she'd never feel safe.

* * *

**End Note:** I'm much happier with this chapter. I've not yet written the end of this story but I do know, as I said above, I'm close to it... unless more gets added as I tend to do. ;) There will be around 20 or so chapters in the end. Most likely. But things can change. If you wouldn't mind... could you leave a quick review to let me know what you think so far? And, of course, I am most grateful to all the reviews some of you have already left! Thank you!


	16. Ten Minutes

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**!THANKS!** for all the reviews everyone! They were greatly appreciated and made me smile like an idiot! ;)

**Chapter Sixteen:** Ten Minutes

* * *

"Boss wants to see you," Vera informed, passing Scotty and Lilly on their way into the squad room. It was Monday morning and the older detective appeared already in a rush to be getting somewhere.

"Me?" asked Scotty.

"Both of you," Vera answered as he stepped up to his locker and began twisting the combination lock for it. Scotty and Lilly shared a look, she shrugged, and the two of them headed for the back office.

Only a few steps in the right direction and both detectives were stopped by Miller. She greeted them with a smile, an offering of donuts she'd brought in, and a good morning. She then looked to Lilly. "You okay?" she asked sincerely.

"Yeah," Lilly answered with a smile. Scotty recognized it as a fake smile but Miller appeared not to know any difference. "I'm fine."

"If you need anything..." it was the usual, friendly, you can always come to me speech. Miller meant well, Scotty knew, and she meant the words but he also knew that saying them to Lilly Rush was a waste of breath.

"Thanks, Kat." Another fake smile and both detectives were headed, again, for the back office.

The door to the lieutenant's office was already open and, inside, Stillman was leaning over a stack of papers on his desk. He failed to notice the approach of the two detectives. Lilly reached up and rapped lightly on the opened glass door and Stillman glanced up from his desk.

"Come in," he said with the wave of a hand and both detectives stepped inside. They took a seat in front of his desk and waited for him to continue. "DNA finally came back on the hairs."

"And?" asked Scotty when Stillman said no more but the lieutenant seemed hesitant to continue.

He leaned deeper into his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose and, with a deep intake of breath, he finally went on. "You're not going to like it, Scotty. None of us likes it."

"What is it?" asked the detective, getting annoyed at the stalling.

"The DNA belonged to a suicide victim," Stillman said, looking very pointedly in Scotty's direction. A knot formed in the detective's stomach and he felt suddenly nauseous.

"Suicide victim?" asked Lilly, she wasn't understanding as her partner was.

"Elissa," answered Stillman and Scotty stood up. He walked over to the window that peered down on the street below. He watched some cars pass by, saw as a few pedestrians crossed at a crosswalk, and tried hard to push the image of his dead girlfriend out of his mind.

"What's it supposed to mean?" it was Lilly who finally broke the silence of the room.

"Scotty," began Stillman, "you once believed Elissa wasn't a suicide..."

"I was wrong," Scotty stated firmly and glanced away from the window and back over to his lieutenant. He could feel Lilly's eyes boring into him but he avoided meeting them. "She killed herself."

"Are you certain?" asked Stillman and Scotty nodded.

"Yes, and so was the coroner and the cops that investigated the incident. And, then, there's the suicide note."

Stillman nodded his head and sighed. He seemed in thought for a moment as Scotty finally looked to his partner but she was now focused on their boss. Stillman stood up suddenly, grabbing Scotty's attention once more, and walked over to his office door. The door was shut and the lieutenant returned to his chair.

"Boss?" questioned Lilly of his actions.

"You two need to start telling the truth," he said, leaning back into his chair and glancing from detective to detective. Scotty looked to his partner, she was now busy studying her hands quite intently, so he looked back to Stillman. The man didn't seem very happy.

"What do you mean?" Scotty asked, playing dumb.

"You know damn well what I mean," Stillman spoke and he then met Scotty's eyes with an expression that dared the younger man to deny his words. Scotty didn't. "How long's it been going on?"

The two partners shared a look and in that look came a silent agreement. There was, after all, no sense in denying anything anymore. Not at this point. Their boss wasn't an idiot. "About a year now," Scotty answered for both of them. "Slightly over."

Stillman nodded his head. "You're both good liars. I'd of never expected that long. I've known for sure the last couple months or so but never did I expect an entire year."

Scotty took back his seat beside Lilly and breathed in deep. "What now?"

"Now you tell me who would want to hurt your girlfriend, instead of who would want to hurt your partner." A silence settled over the office with those words and Scotty found he had no answers to fill it with. It was very hard trying to discern who in his past, personal or work related, would turn out to be a sociopath. "Scotty?"

"I don't know, Boss," Scotty finally answered and his words felt weak. "Believe me, if I knew... If I had any idea... I just don't. You try going into your past and picking out the one sociopath you've run into. It ain't that easy."

"Ex-girlfriends?" Stillman asked.

Scotty shook his head. "The caller is a guy."

"Doesn't necessarily mean the instigator isn't a girl," his boss pointed out and so Scotty began to think. But, truth was, he hadn't had many girlfriends since Elissa that were anywhere near serious. Would a one-night stand go to this extent? He supposed, if they were crazy enough. But, he hadn't had one of those that had shown back up in his life at any point.

"Frankie," Scotty finally admitted the only name he could think of, "and the trouble I had there wasn't with her, per se."

"Frankie?" Lilly asked and Scotty couldn't bring himself to look over at her. Discussing ex-girlfriends with his current fiance wasn't exactly his idea of a good conversation. "From forensics?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"And what sort of trouble did you have there?" asked Stillman and Scotty sighed. He closed his eyes briefly and wished he could be somewhere else, or that Lilly was somewhere else at least. "Scotty, this is important."

Scotty opened his eyes and met his bosses. "Believe me, I know."

"What trouble did you have with her?"

"Would you like me to leave?" asked Lilly and Scotty sighed again. If he told her yes, she'd be angry with him. He shook his head.

"The trouble was more with her... husband." He was certain Lilly had just stifled a giggle.

"You dated a married woman?" she asked and he shook his head, meeting her eyes. They were twinkling with mischief but he didn't find any of this very funny.

"No," he insisted, "I dated a woman I didn't know was married."

"Okay," she said with a nod and hidden humor behind her tone. Scotty looked forward again. He still didn't think this was very funny.

"What happened when you found out?" asked Stillman.

"It's more _how_ I found out," Scotty said and at Stillman's questioning look he continued. "He smashed the hell outta my car with a bat, then attacked me."

Stillman's eyes widened. "And you didn't think this was relevant before?" he asked.

"No, I didn't," Scotty responded. "And I still don't and this has nothing to do with Elissa."

"Still," Lilly began and she was all serious detective again, "the evidence vials. She works in forensics. The pissed off husband. The male voice."

"It's coincidence and has nothing to do with Elissa."

"We'll need to talk with them," Stillman pointed out and Scotty shrugged.

"By my guess," he said, not really caring. "But last I knew she was back with her husband and they were working things out."

"Anything else, Scotty? Anyone else?" asked Stillman.

Scotty gave a dry laugh. "You think I go around breaking up marriages?" Stillman just stared back at him. "No, I can't think of anyone else and Frankie was me digging pretty deep."

Stillman's next words came with caution but no amount of caution would have been enough to prepare Scotty for them. "Jeffries and Vera are on the way over to speak with Elissa's family."

Scotty immediately reached boiling point and he glared over at his boss. "And you didn't tell me this before now?" he demanded and stood up. He headed straight for the door.

"Scotty," Stillman stood up too and quickly stopped the detective from leaving his office, "they need to handle this. Not you."

"_This_ has nothing to do with them!" he shouted over at his boss, who stood only a foot in front of him. "Her family has already been through enough! They don't need this!" That's when Lilly pushed passed him, and their lieutenant, and out of the office. Scotty's anger vanished and his chest filled with a physical hurt.

Scotty moved to head after her but was stopped by Stillman with a hand to his arm. "What's your intentions with her, Scotty?" he asked sternly and the detective's eyes snapped back to him.

"Excuse me?"

"You don't exactly have a very good rack record since Elissa," Stillman pointed out, a bit more gently this time.

Scotty knew the man meant well. He knew that he was only looking out for Lilly as a father would his daughter because that's exactly how much Lilly Rush really meant to him. But, still, the insinuation behind those words was enough to send his anger spiraling back up towards the boiling point.

"I'm in love with her," Scotty finally said, not trusting himself to say anything else, and pushed passed his boss and went in search of his partner.

* * *

Lilly was in the cold case room. She was seated on the floor, back to one of the shelves and her head leaning back against a box with her eyes closed. She didn't bother opening them when she felt someone step up beside her. She knew his presence well enough to know it was Scotty. She felt him sit down next to her. Their sides touched in a gentle feel that brought some peace to her turmoil of emotions.

"You shouldn't disappear like that," he said gently. A part of her was surprised he hadn't run off in search of Elissa's family instead of coming to find her. The other part knew he was going to find her before he did anything else.

She opened her eyes and turned her head. Her blue eyes met his brown ones and she smiled softly over at him. She lifted her hand and ran a trail down the side of his face. He smiled at the gesture, turned into her hand and gently kissed her palm before taking the hand into his own.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I just..." A tear slipped down her cheek and she looked away. "I just want this to end."

"Me too," he said softly and, after a few seconds silence, he continued. "About Elissa, Lil..."

"Don't, Scotty," she cut him off. "Just... don't."

With a gentle hand at the side of her face, he turned her head to face his again. "You know I love you," he whispered and she smiled.

"I know," she assured him. "And I don't believe love stops with one person so, you don't have to worry about that."

He nodded, his eyes on hers, and then they moved to her lips and he was leaning in and kissing her gently. His lips were the touch of comfort she desperately needed but she pulled away quickly, although not rejectfully. This simply wasn't the place.

"We should go back upstairs," he said after a moment.

"Yeah," Lilly agreed with a nod. "I still got a needle in a haystack to find outta those files on my desk." Scotty smiled at this. "I'll be up in a minute, all right?"

Scotty hesitated but her eyes pleading with him for this moment to herself, won him over. "Okay," he stood up, "but I'm coming back down here in ten minutes if you're not up there."

"Got it."

Lilly listened to his footsteps fall through the room, she heard him reach the stairs and ascend and then a door opened, shut and finally she pulled herself off the floor and stood up. She sighed, looked down at the floor, and closed her eyes for a moment. She prepared herself for another day of going through old files and, worse yet, for facing her boss some more about her and Scotty's forbidden relationship because that conversation, she knew, was not yet over. She took a step after her partner but hadn't the chance to take another one. A gloved hand reached out from behind her and wrapped itself around her mouth.

"Ten minutes," a voice whispered harshly at her ear and she knew this voice from a phone call she had once received. "I wonder what all we can accomplish in ten minutes."

* * *

(; I know, you hate me now, don't you? ;)


	17. Fade Away

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** I am very sorry it has taken me so long to get this updated. I never intended to leave you so long on a cliffhanger! I wish I had an amazing excuse for it like... I'm dying... my kid got sick... I got hit by a truck... I was abducted by aliens... but, I'm afraid I don't. The truth is, I was getting burned out with writing and I needed a break and that's really all there is to it. I just needed to walk away for a while and let my head rest. I'm sorry my brain picked such a pivotal moment in the story to crash. I really never intended to go any more than a few days before updating the story. Anyhow, sorry, again, and please forgive me... and, know, if I had gotten to this any sooner it would have, likely, been awful. I needed the break to continue to the best of my ability and not just throw you whatever crap I came up with. I'm sorry! :(  
**PS:** It's not very nice to write to someone you don't even know and call them lazy and then ask that they write you back but then disable the ability for them to do so. I'm not lazy. You don't know me. My life, I will gladly admit, does not center on my next story post. So, while I try and keep things updated often, it's not always possible for a multitude of reasons... Only one being what I stated above and another one being, quite simply, life.

**Chapter Seventeen:** Fade Away

* * *

Lilly could feel the unmistakable pressure of a gun muzzle pushing into her side. She wondered how he'd managed to smuggle it in but, more attentively, she wondered if securities mistake was going to be her end.

"You're not going to scream, are you?" the voice asked at her ear. Lilly shook her head. Risking being shot was not her idea of an answer to this situation. "Of course not," he removed his hand from over her mouth, "Lilly Rush doesn't scream." He chuckled. "Or, do you?" It was a suggestive question and he used his free arm to pull her body back against his to better emphasize the suggestion.

Lilly felt ill as she stared off in the direction her partner had been only moments earlier. She desperately wanted that moment back so that she could walk out of here with him. Ten minutes, she thought with little hope, and he would be back. Maybe sooner if she knew him well enough, and she certainly did, because her partner did not trust that she was safe alone for any amount of time.

"You are quite hot," he spoke at her ear and then his lips moved to her neck as he began trailing kisses along it. Lilly stiffened. She wanted to bolt and thought about doing so. He must have felt her tense up because the gun, at her side, suddenly dug deeper and she winced at the pain it caused her.

His free hand suddenly roamed further up her front side to cup one of her breasts. "Please don't," she begged as a silent tear made a trail down her cheek.

"I only wish I had the time," he whispered against her neck, "but, alas, ten minutes is not time enough." The hand at her breast began to roughly squeeze and pinch at her through the thin fabric of her blouse and Lilly wanted to fade away. She tried to pull away from him but he and his gun wouldn't allow it.

"What do you want?" she asked, taking in a deep breath and trying to calm her nerves. Perhaps, she began to think, his intentions this day were not to kill her.

"I have a message for your boyfriend," he said, beginning to nibble at her earlobe.

"What message?"

His free hand released her breast and his arm unwrapped itself from around her. He seemed to be taking something out of his pocket and a moment later he shoved something into her hand. Lilly didn't dare look down but, from its feel, she'd say he had just handed her another photograph.

"Give that to him," he said and went back to place a few more kisses along her neck. "Next time, I promise you, we'll have more time and much more fun." He kissed her on the cheek, a goodbye parting, and then he was gone.

* * *

Scotty was speaking with Miller when his partner stepped back into the bullpen. He'd been watching the time. She hadn't been gone more than eight minutes. It was immediately clear, however, that something was wrong. Her hands were shaky as she swung open the gate and stepped through. Their eyes met but hers instantly found something on the floor to look at instead. Stopping in mid-sentence, the detective stepped away from Miller and rushed over to his partner.

"Lil?" he began but she never looked up. He lifted her chin with a hand and forced her eyes to his. "Lilly, what happened?" She looked like she wanted to cry. She looked terrified. His heart sank. What the hell could have happened to her in less than ten minutes?

"He was here," she answered, her voice shaky. "He was downstairs."

"What's going on?" it was Miller and Scotty glanced over at her. She seemed as genuinely concerned as he was.

"Lock the place down," he demanded of the detective. She only continued to stare at him, confused. "He's here Miller! Lock the place down!" The female detective finally rushed off, only, it was in the wrong direction. Then, Scotty realized, she was going to find their lieutenant. A single detective, of course, had no authority to lock down the Philadelphia police department's headquarters. A lieutenant didn't even have that authority.

Scotty turned back to Lilly. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," she shook her head and Scotty could identify, with much relief, that she was telling him the truth. He wanted to pull her into his arms. He didn't really care, at the moment, how inappropriate the gesture would be construed as. He just wanted to hold her and assure himself that she was okay but Lilly took a step back and away from him. At first, Scotty was taken back, but then he saw that her eyes were focused on something, or someone, behind him.

"What happened?" demanded the unmistakable voice of their boss and Scotty sighed, not with relief but with the annoyance of a situation he was far tired of. He didn't want her to be his secret and, even to a man they weren't a secret to anymore, they still had to hide. Scotty turned to face his boss.

"Is the building being locked down?" he asked his own question.

"It's being worked on. Miller's on the phone now. What happened?" Stillman looked to Lilly. Scotty looked back to her as well, realizing that he had no idea what had happened.

"After Scotty left the file room he came up from behind me. He... he had a gun. He said he had a message for... my partner."

"A message?" Scotty asked and she handed him a photograph he hadn't known she was holding. He looked down at the picture and recognized it at once. It was of two teenagers. They were seated on a park bench, holding hands and kissing.

"What is it?" asked Stillman.

"_Who_ is it?" asked Lilly. The photograph was from when Scotty was only fifteen but he wasn't the boy in it. The girl wasn't Elissa either. Scotty couldn't even put a name to the girl in the picture but she wasn't what mattered. It was the boy that mattered. A teenage boy, seated on a park bench with a teenage girl and Scotty knew exactly who the boy was.

"I know who he is," the detective said aloud, his words meaning so much more than just the identity of a boy in a photograph.

* * *

**End Note:** I know this was really short. I decided to separate the rest of it into a new chapter so that I could get this posted sooner. The rest of it being stuff that still needs polishing up, fixing, changed and, probably, completely rewritten by the time I'm done with it. ;) Thanks to everyone for your reviews on that last chapter and (almost everyone) for your continued support and patience!


	18. The Answer

**S T A L K E D**  
By: incoherenThought

**Note:** Anyone who wants to tell me my story doesn't fit in with the show right... please refer to the note I left in Chapter One. Thank you... ;)

**Chapter Eighteen:** The Answer

* * *

"Benito Bolivar?" asked Stillman and Scotty nodded. They were back in the lieutenant's office with Stillman behind his desk, Lilly seated before it and Scotty leaning against one of the glass walls watching, intently, his partner. She was still shaken from the events proceeding and he was worried about her, but not because she was shaken, but because she was behaving like nothing had happened at all. If he didn't know her, as well as he did, he wouldn't know she was upset at all.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked her suddenly and felt Stillman's eyes land on him. He assumed that Stillman, now having confirmed the interpersonal relationship between his two detectives, would be watching him like a hawk. He would be convincing himself that Scotty was good enough for Lilly because, even though he'd have no say in it, of course, he cared for Lilly as a man would care for their own daughter. Although, Scotty highly doubted, he'd ever admit it. He couldn't admit it. It would only look bad on him as a lieutenant to have grown that close to another detective. That's when it occurred to Scotty how similar their situation was. They both loved this woman, just in two different manners, and it was a secret they'd both had to keep.

"I'm fine," Lilly answered after a moment but she never did meet his gaze. "Who is he, Scotty?"

Scotty sighed and stood up straighter. He'd talk with her later and in private where she'd be far more likely to open up to him. "Benito Bolivar," Scotty began, looking over at his boss, "was dating Elissa when I first met her. At least as much as fifteen year olds dated... at least in my neighborhood. Anyway, I had a crush on Elissa and I wanted to break her and Benito up. It was pretty easy to do when I discovered he was dating another girl at the same time as he was seeing Elissa."

"The girl in the picture with him?" Lilly asked and Scotty nodded, looking over at her.

"I took the picture. I followed them one day and snapped the picture and handed it off to someone else to show Elissa only..." Lilly started giggling, interrupting his words, and Scotty's brow lifted quizzically. "What?" he asked and her smile faded, although it looked difficult for her to keep it away.

"I'm sorry," she stated quickly. "I just think it's kind of cute. I mean, you know, if he weren't trying to kill me all these years later because of something you did at fifteen... it would be cute." Scotty smiled softly and looked back to his boss, who was watching Lilly with an expression the detective could not read. As the lieutenant's eyes diverted back to Scotty, he was able to suddenly understand the look and Stillman's small nod confirmed it. He understood, they weren't just playing house, they were in love and Stillman had just given his approval. And, the detective found, that approval meant a lot to him.

"Only what, Scotty?" Stillman asked, his voice giving absolutely no indication of the moment that had just passed silently between them.

Scotty blinked and dug into his memory about what they'd just been discussing. Right, he though, remembering, and continued his story. "Only, the boy I handed the photo off to caved when he was confronted by Benito, after Elissa had broken it off with him, and he told him I'd taken the picture."

"Okay?" Stillman asked, not understanding.

"Benito beat the crap outta me for that picture." Scotty glanced over at Lilly. He could just sense that she was smiling and, sure enough, not only was she smiling but appeared to be trying hard to contain her laughter. "And I suppose you think that's cute too."

"I actually do," Lilly admitted with a nod and looked up at him with all the innocents she could muster.

"I learned how to fight after that," he pointed out, trying to sound annoyed but the truth was he thought she was adorable and wasn't bothered in the least. It was nice, seeing her happy, if only for a false moment.

"Still doesn't answer why he gave the picture to Lil," Stillman stated and Scotty looked back over at him.

"I don't know why he gave her that picture but Benito got his revenge on me then, when it happened. This is... I don't know what this is about. I don't know what that picture means or what the message is supposed to be."

"Do you think Benito Bolivar could be the one doing all this?" asked his lieutenant, a firm statement. He was tired of reminiscing and wanted Scotty's final and honest opinion and Scotty didn't have to think about the answer for very long.

"Yes," he stated truthfully. "Benito was crazy and that day, the look in his eyes when he was beating on me, I thought the kid wanted to kill me. But, for all his faults, he really did care about Elissa. He really had a thing for her."

"And you broke them up," Lilly stated.

"Yes, but he moved on. We were just kids and he kept seeing that other girl."

"What about Elissa?" asked Lilly and Scotty could hear the detective in her speaking. She was on to something but before he could inquire any more there was a knock at the door and Miller was poking her head into the office.

"Boss?" she questioned, looking at Stillman, and he nodded his approval for her to continue. She stepped into the office. "I've got that file you wanted." The file she handed him was thick and overflowing with far too many papers. "And this guy's been around."

"Is that Bolivar's?" asked Lilly.

"Yes," Stillman answered and opened the file.

"Can I see it?" she asked and he looked up at her in wonder. But Stillman, Scotty knew, was well aware that Lilly Rush was probably his best detective and if she were onto something he wasn't about to pass it up and he handed her the folder without a word. All he took from it, before handing it over, was a mugshot of Benito Bolivar. This mugshot he handed back to Miller.

"Take that downstairs," he informed Miller. Downstairs, they were still doing a search of everyone leaving the building. "Make sure security gets copies of it and they know that may be the man we're looking for. If he is seen, I want him apprehended." The whole while Stillman was speaking Scotty was watching his partner searching, rather intently, through the file she had just been handed. A few pages fell out of it and scattered across the floor but she ignored them as she continued her search.

"Lilly?" Stillman inquired and Scotty blinked over at him. Apparently, at some point, Miller had already left the office as it was just the three of them once more. Lilly said nothing. She flipped a few pages, a few more and then her back straightened and she began to read one of the pages. Scotty stepped over behind her and looked down at the page she was reading. It was an arrest report. She flipped to the next page before he could get very far and he gave up and sat down in the chair beside her and waited, patiently, for her to tell them what the hell she was on to.

"This is it," Lilly said and stood up to hand Stillman back the file, opened to where she'd been last reading. She sat back down and looked over at her partner.

"What?"

"He's been in prison, Scotty," Lilly said and he looked at her confused.

"I'd expect as much from Benito," Scotty pointed out.

"For five years," Stillman commented and Scotty was getting annoyed.

"And the point?" he asked.

"Six years ago," Lilly began to inform him, "he was put in prison for five years on an assault charge and, a year ago, he was released."

Now Scotty was understanding. "That's when he started stalking you."

"And Elissa died, while he was in that prison," pointed out Lilly. "You said he really liked her. Was it enough to blame you for her suicide?"

Scotty looked at her and shook his head. "I don't know."

"Did he keep in touch with her? After they broke up? I mean, you stayed with her all those years but what about Benito? Did they stay friends?"

Scotty nodded and sighed at his own blindness. He should have figured this out the second he saw that picture and knew Benito was involved. "Yes, she stayed in touch with him, all those years... He blames me for her death."

"But it wasn't your fault," Lilly assured him softly and placed a hand atop his own. He smiled at her and nodded.

"I know," he said truthfully and his cellphone came to life with a ring that meant anonymous. He stiffened as Lilly pulled her hand away and he reached for his phone. He looked at it for a moment, the whole room in silence, before taking in a deep breath and flipping it open. He pushed _talk_ and placed it to his ear.

"You can call off the search party," the voice said before Scotty could even get in a greeting. "Elvis has already left the building."

"Don't you mean Benito?" Scotty asked and there was a small laugh through the phone.

"I see you got my message," the caller spoke. "You homicide cops aren't so smart. I had to walk the answer right to you. And, speaking of which, your girlfriend is by far hotter up close and personal. In fact... did she tell you just how up close and personal we got?"

The numbness that settled over him at those words took over the anger Scotty would have expected to feel. He glanced over at Lilly and she met his eyes. The look in his eyes must have given away what he had just been told because she quickly looked away. Scotty could feel tears threaten at his eyes as one question floated through his mind. What had really happened in that cold case room?

"I... guess not." The caller laughed and Scotty squeezed the phone tighter in his hand as anger began to peek over the numbness he was feeling.

"We know who you are now, Benito. The whole city is going to know it. We're gonna find you."

"But I have the advantage because I already know where you are and I know just how to get to your pretty little girlfriend." He laughed. "I knew just how to smuggle that gun into PPD. It's no trouble at all when you work there." The line went dead and Scotty slowly pulled the phone away from his ear and flipped it shut.

"What'd he say?" asked Stillman. Scotty looked at Lilly and she looked over at him. Her eyes pleading with him not to share all of what that man had just told him. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and then looked over at his boss.

"We need to find a missing employee," he said.

Stillman leaned forward over his desk. "Another victim?"

"No," Scotty began, "_him_. He said he got the gun smuggled in because he worked here. Oh, and, he says he's already left the building."

"How does a guy with that kind of rap sheet get a job with PPD?" asked Lilly.

"By using an assumed name and being damned good about it," Stillman answered, picking up his desk phone. He dialed in a number and began speaking to whoever was on the other end but Scotty paid no attention to the conversation. He looked back over at his partner. She was watching her hands once more and he placed his own atop them. She looked up at him. Her eyes were sad and ashamed, because of what had happened, or because she'd lied about it, he didn't know.

"He didn't do anything, Scotty," she whispered softly, so their boss wouldn't understand. "He didn't even have time to do anything."

He nodded but he didn't know if he believed her. "Are you telling me the truth? Because you obviously didn't before."

She looked back at their hands, his still atop hers. "I'm sorry," she whispered and Stillman hung up the phone.

"They're beginning a search for any employees that have gone, or go, missing," Stillman stated. "Everything okay?"

Scotty nodded. "Yeah, Boss, fine."

"About this thing you two have going," Stillman began but Scotty cut him off with a small chuckle as he looked over at the other man.

"It's more than just a thing," he pointed out and his boss nodded.

"I can see that... but it means one of you is going to have to leave this squad."

"I'm prepared to transfer out," Scotty offered.

"I said the squad," Stillman informed, "not the unit."

Scotty looked at him quizzically. "You mean we can both stay in homicide?"

Stillman nodded. "This unit is larger than Cold Case and I'm not about to lose one of my best detectives. There is no reason you can't both stay in homicide. You just can't both stay in the same squad."

"So, how exactly will that work?" asked Lilly.

"You'll stay on Cold Cases with this squad and I'm transferring Scotty to another squad where he'll be going on the line to work fresh cases." Scotty was taken back. It sounded so simple. Way too simple.

"What about IAD?" asked Lilly and Scotty's shoulders slumped, knowing his bosses best intentions would mean squat to them.

"You'll have to come out to them and inform them of your relationship. The details are up to you because the first time I hear about this is going to be right before you go to them. Understood?" Scotty nodded and so did his partner. "Good. IAD can, and probably will, demand you be sent to separate units but they won't have much to stand on. You're both good in homicide and your talents would be waisted elsewhere. And, as long as you're not working directly together, the rules speculate this relationship is allowed. But, this isn't going to be easy and if certain things come out... one of you will be transfered or fired. Both of you could be fired."

"We know, Boss," Lilly spoke, "we screwed up."

"Big time. On a lot of things," agreed Stillman. "And I don't want to see it happen again."

"This whole," Scotty began, "moving of squads... Is it going to be affective immediately? Am I walking out there and packing up my desk?"

Stillman shook his head. "No. I'm giving you two weeks and, me two weeks, to find a place to put you. In the mean time, let's hope we can find this guy."

* * *

**End Note:** Don't flame me for the department rules I took the liberty of implementing in this story. In my fictional world, they sounded just fine. Probably not true in the real world. But, seriously, homicide is a larger unit than the five detectives we see everyday on Cold Case. It has to be because there has to be someone out there working fresh cases. Anyhow, I don't want to hear about how this isn't how things really work... oh, well. This is a story and it's how it works in this fictional world of mine! ;)

As always... thanks for reading and please leave me more reviews! I'm addicted to them!


	19. Freaky Stuff

**S T A L K E D  
**By: incoherenThought

**Note:** Thanks to everyone that is still reading this! I have not abandoned this or any of my other stories... that includes ones not even posted yet. ;) I love Cold Case and I promise I'm still here and writing. My time is simply being split between a lot of things these days and therefor I have less of it. I certainly appreciate your continued support and patience... even if I don't deserve it. Thanks for reviewing, for reading, or for simply clicking over to this story by mistake. :)

**Chapter Nineteen:** Freaky Stuff

* * *

Scotty had to admit he was angry with her, but he didn't want to upset her either. She'd already been through enough. She didn't deserve a patronizing lashing down to. But he couldn't change that he was angry with her. So, he sat silently at a chair in the breakroom and waited. Silence often spoke louder than words. Especially for them.

Lilly opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. She then glanced over at him. "Would you like something?" she asked politely. Scotty shook his head and she shut the fridge and bit down on her bottom lip. She knew he was angry. Twisting off the bottle's lid, Lilly leaned against the fridge, watching her own actions intently and avoiding his gaze.

"Nothing happened, Scotty," she finally spoke, her words soft. Their breakroom wasn't exactly private and neither of them wanted someone eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Then you two getting _up close and personal_, that didn't happen?"

Lilly took a seat beside him. "Is that what he told you?" Scotty only looked back at her; his face stern and answering her question. She shook her head. "It didn't happen. Nothing happened. I mean, there was some _inappropriate_ touching but nothing that I haven't dealt with before. I've been handled worse by perps."

"I shouldn't have left you there," he said suddenly. She smiled at him softly and traced a finger along the top of his hand.

"It wasn't your fault," she said gently, "and I asked you to leave. Who knew I could be unsafe in the safest place in Philly?"

"And that's what scares me the most."

* * *

Lilly tossed aside another file. She'd gone through thirteen cases so far and had found no obvious correlation between any of them. There were stabbings and shootings, even a few poisonings, a strangulation by hanging but nothing in any of it told the detective why Garret Penning had chosen to keep these cases as souvenirs. She glanced across her desk at her partner, who was currently reading through one of the cases himself. There seemed to be about thirty-three cases total but, until they finished getting through all the files and evidence, they wouldn't know for sure. Lilly gathered up a pile of crime scene photographs and placed them back inside her discarded file.

"You find anything interesting?" she asked of Scotty. She felt like she could take a nap right there, on her desk. Paperwork really had never been her thing. And, while this wasn't exactly paperwork, it had the same torturous and boring effects on her. She'd much prefer being out on the streets conducting an interview.

"Nothing..." Scotty began but never finished as Vera and Jeffries stepped into the bullpen. They had somebody with them that Lilly didn't recognize; it was an older woman in torn up and dirty clothing. Homeless, Lilly thought, from the appearance of the woman. Jeffries said something to her and she took a seat just on the other side of the bullpen gate. The two detectives then walked towards them.

"What the hell's going on?" Vera asked, annoyance dripping from his words. "It took us an hour just to get into our own precinct."

"Our friend made a visit," was all Lilly said.

"You okay?" asked Jeffries.

"Fine." She turned back to her stack of files.

"You know where we've been?" asked Jeffries and Lilly glanced up to see her partner give a tight nod. Scotty was angry and when Scotty was angry he usually did nothing to hide it.

"Elisa's parents said she kept in touch with that guy Boss called about," Vera stated almost absently as he took a seat at his desk and pulled out his black notepad. "And that woman over there, she was sent up with us, she has information on an old homicide, or something."

"Or something?" asked Lilly.

"Benito Bolivar," Scotty said irritably. "His name is Benito Bolivar and he almost shot a coworker today."

"Scotty..."

"What?" Vera's head shot up from his pad and looked over at Lilly. "He almost shot you?"

"No," Lilly shook her head. "I mean, he had a gun..."

"He got a gun into PPD?" asked Jeffries.

"He didn't shoot anyone and he's gone. It's... a long story. What did you find out from..." Her eyes wandered to Scotty, who was staring holes into a file on his desk, then back to Jeffries. She let her question hang.

"She kept in contact with Bolivar as a mild friend. The two talked now and then; mostly over the phone. They met a few times for lunch and when Elisa was in the hospital he'd visit her on occasion."

"So they were friends," it was a statement made mostly to herself, but Jeffries nodded anyhow.

"Her parents also had a theory for us on how he got her DNA?"

"Some pretty freaky stuff too," Vera commented.

"What'd they say?" asked Scotty.

"That some months back a storage unit they had rented was broken into. It contained some of Elisa's old things. They didn't notice anything missing but now, they're thinking, maybe he stole something that contained her hair like a brush or something. They're gonna check it out further and let us know."

"What is this guy's game?" Vera said. "Stealing hair? Planting it? What's he getting at?"

"Will, Nick," Stillman's voice came from across the room. He was standing in the doorway of his office and upon catching the detective's attention he stepped back inside. Jeffries nodded his parting as he and Vera headed off to catch their boss up on what they'd learned but they'd only taken a few steps when Vera suddenly stopped and turned back towards Lilly.

"You wanna talk to the woman?"

Lilly looked at him confused. "What woman?"

Vera nodded towards the assumed homeless woman they had brought in with them. Lilly had completely forgotten about her. At the moment, she appeared to be talking to herself or someone imaginary. Lilly shook her head. "I think I'll leave her for you."

"I gotta talk to the boss," Vera insisted, innocently.

Lilly turned back to her desk and picked up a file. She shrugged with a sigh. "And I gotta find Jimmy Hoffa."

Vera muttered something that Lilly didn't quite catch as a photograph from the file caught her attention. She pulled it out and examined it closer. A young woman, she couldn't be more than 25, lay lifeless on the floor of a kitchen. But it wasn't the body that had so suddenly caught the detective's attention. Near the body was a knife.

"Why's there a knife?" Lilly asked to herself.

"What?" questioned Scotty. She shook her head and reached for another file. She pulled out a few photographs and felt as Scotty stepped up beside her. "You got something?"

"This woman was shot," she said and handed Scotty the photo. "But there's a knife in the picture."

"It's a kitchen, Lil," Scotty said. "I keep them in mine too."

"On the floor?" she said and began pulling out more photos from more files.

"Maybe it fell," Scotty pointed out. "Maybe there was a struggle."

The blond detective shook her head. "I don't think so." She stood up and walked over to the white board they often posted crime scene photos to or wrote information on. She took a picture she was holding, a male in his early 40's, and taped it onto the board. "He was stabbed."

"Okay," Scotty said, walking up beside her. "He was stabbed. What's your point?"

"My point is that," Lilly said and pointed to a spot on the photograph. She looked to her partner as understanding, and confusion, crossed his features.

"That's a gun," Scotty stated simply and Lilly nodded.

"But he was stabbed, not shot."

"Do we have that gun in evidence?" Scotty asked and Lilly turned back to the boxes of evidence that had been brought in with the photos.

"Maybe."

* * *

**End Note:** Not very long but I needed to get something posted and this is all I have at the moment. I hope to get another update for you soon but I can't make any promises. For those interested, I'm about halfway through the next chapter for Torn. Hopefully, it too will be posted shortly. Thanks again for reading! =)


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